Perhaps the best question we can ask is... How do we Prevent Alzheimer's?

To give you a down-to-earth example of the current cost of Alzheimer’s Disease, in 2017 it was over $220 billion annually in the US and a trillion-dollar cost to global health.
Today in 2024, according to Google Copilot it is projected to reach $360 Billion (1) in the US with future US costs of 1 trillion by 2050 (1) Globally the cost is 1 trillion(2) with projected costs reaching $2.8 trillion by 2030 (2) and $14.5 trillion by 2050 (3)
(1) www.alz.org, (2) www.who.int, (3) www.news-medical.net
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On a more personal level, back in 2012, when I was looking to move my mom from an “assisted living facility” at around $3000/month to a Dementia Care Unit at $5000/month, I was hit with an unexpected cost of a “personal caretaker”.  Seems the Dementia Care Unit in no way cared for her personal needs and that would be an additional cost that I had to find on my own. I figured the caretaker cost at $20/hour for ten hours/day would minimally DOUBLE the cost of her “Dementia Care” to $10,000 a MONTH!!  
My first thought was, she never saw the cost of this coming; but neither had I.
‍Her meager savings and social security check didn’t even start to cover these costs. My second thought was, “We don’t even spend this much on raising our children.”
According to a Google report dated Jan 9, 2017, “The cost of raising a child for a middle-income family born in 2017 through the age of 17, was $233,610.
My Mom had saved up some money for her golden years, but that money would only have lasted 23.4 months for my mother.  So, I did what so many families are doing, I took her out of the medical care model and moved her back into my home for the next three years and found caretakers she and I could afford. They sat with her while I worked, and I cared for her myself the four days I had arranged off from work.
Dementia’s debit is paid not just by money, but by love thru time, talents, and lives of its caregivers. Dementia holds all the ‘Bitter-Sweet” juices of life that eventually are understood only by its surviving care givers.   

Today, December 2024, Google's copilot relates that "the cost of raising a child in the United States from birth to age 18 for a middle-income family is estimated to be around $310,000 to $312,000 (1). This figure includes expenses like housing, food, childcare, education, and healthcare, but it doesn't account for college costs (1) That is an increase of 33%!! That means her cost today of a Dementia care unit would be $13,300 (including her caretaker)
Her money would have run out in just 17.6 months!!!!!
(1) - moneyusnews.com

But, back to the main topic…...How do we prevent Dementia?

Bets are, if you are reading this article, you’re not the one with dementia; however, you may be next in line to develop it.  Perhaps that short term memory loss you’re experiencing may be a hint!  
The good message in all of this is that even though it’s a long road, by understanding the disease early, you can help prevent it or slow it down in yourself, your parents, and especially your children. 
The lifestyle changes an Alzheimer’s patient needs to undertake are what everyone of us should be living if we want to prevent this disease.  
If ever there are effective drugs, it’s unlikely many of us will take them in our lifetime.
Right now, our best bet for prevention of Alzheimer’s or Pre-Alzheimer’s patients alike is an evaluation and optimization of lifestyle habits.  
Poor habits, cardiovascular disease, metabolic inflexibility, imbalanced trophic factors, toxic exposures over time, may walk you right into the oblivion called Dementia, Diabetes 3.  
If not in balance, your brain will down regulate your cognitive neurons as a survival technique in order to be sure you can still breathe and maintain bare organismal existence. If in balance, your brain will store short term memories and maintain cognitive awareness. It really is just that simple.
We’re a set of switches and if the right ones are not turned on for upregulation, we move into a state called “disease” or simply down-regulation. Since I am a Functional Medicine Practitioner, I believe meeting the demands of that switch will turn it on and keep us on the path of health.  We just have to figure out what the body needs to stay healthy.
As we continue to unfold the mysteries of life, we will one day, be able to control all of this. Perhaps even breed only the good switches into all humans; but for now, we can’t.  We are like the person hunting a balloon in a blackened room to pop. The good thing is that the lights are beginning to glow faintly, and we are beginning to see the outline of the room.

We at NEWS basically followed the groundbreaking Bredesen Protocol for Dementia evaluation and treatment. We had been practicing Functional Medicine since 1994, so many of Dr. Bredesen’s insights were already part of our routine protocols.
In fact, we added the Bale-Doneen-Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Protocols in 2016 which allowed us to address the concern of Vascular Dementia and its prevention with our Cardiovascular Care. Our patient's improvements have proven to us Bale-Doneen works.

Today Dementia is also being called Diabetes Type 3. NEWS's paradigms have always incorporated the belief that Insulin Resistance can begin 10 to 20 years before the diagnosis is made; thus, we have been helping people learn how to control Insulin Resistance since NEWS began in 1994.
Our office goal and belief that prevention by teaching Optimal Lifestyles will be paramount in preventing chronic health complaints is being proven through the science presented by Dr. Bredesen in understanding Dementia.
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Dementia is scary! but quit running and turn around to face it "head on"; [No pun intended] for today it won't go away with a pill and especially if it's a "sugar"-coated pill. Only thru understanding and a lot of hard work to change some "bad" habits and start some "good" habits will we pass this hurdle. Are you ready?
Take my hand.
Let's start...

The most important Prevention, right now, comes in the form of stepping on a scale and knowing your BMI.  If you are over a BMI of 24.9 you are metabolically on your way to Dementia and you had better do something about it.
Remember 80% of people with Insulin Resistance or Diabetes Type 2 will go on to get Dementia or as it is known today as Diabetes Type 3.