Living healthy could reduce Alzheimer's risk

• I'm Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Health Report.
• Alzheimer's disease slowly destroys memory, thinking and reasoning skills.
• The risk of developing this brain-wasting condition increases with age.
• It is usually found in older people, but those with a family history may develop it earlier.
• Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a progressive loss of brain cells and mental abilities.
• The Alzheimer's Association says the disease can last from three to twenty years, but the average person dies after eight years.
• A new Swedish study estimated the direct costs of Alzheimer's disease and dementia care worldwide in two thousand three.
• The estimate is one hundred fifty-six thousand million dollars.
• That was based on an estimate that almost twenty-eight million people have dementia.
• An estimated four and one-half million people have Alzheimer's disease in the United States.
• As the population ages, the Alzheimer's Association says there may be as many as sixteen million cases by two thousand fifty.
• Researchers suggest that healthy ways of living, started early, could reduce the risk of Alzheimer's or delay it.
• Even good care of the teeth and gums could have an effect, because of a possible link between gum disease and higher risk of Alzheimer's.
• Researchers say technologies such as PET scans and magnetic resonance imaging may be useful in discovering Alzheimer's early.
• There are several drug treatments being developed.
• A study reported last week involved some mice genetically engineered to develop dementia.
• Researchers then shut off the genes that caused it.
• The mice regained memory, as shown in their ability to guide their way around.
• University of Minnesota researcher Karen Ashe says the results came as a surprise.
• This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk.