What Causes Alzheimer's Disease?

No one really knows what causes Alzheimer’s disease.   Scientists have managed to figure out what goes wrong in the brain, but they don’t know why it goes wrong.  If they can figure out the cause,  then they may be able to find a cure.

Even though, researchers don’t know why AD happens, they have a few theories as to what causes it.  Some say AD is caused by a mutated gene that can be inherited and therefore seen in several generations of family members. 

Scientists around the world are studying genes and trying to find a genetic origin for Alzheimer’s disease.

Other researchers believe certain lifestyle choices put people at risk for developing AD.  For example, scientists now know that a nutritious diet, physical activity, a rich social life and playing games or doing puzzles that exercise the brain may help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

WHAT DOCTORS KNOW FOR SURE:

• Physicians do know that the risk for getting Alzheimer’s disease increases with age.
• Alzheimer’s disease does tend to run in families.  This type of Alzheimer’s is known as “familial” Alzheimer’s disease.
• There seems to be an association between AD and other chronic conditions such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity.
• While scientist are still far away from finding the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease, their research has made huge progress over the past 30 years.  Every day researchers get one step closer to being able to predict and prevent this devastating disease.