Alzheimer's is in the same family as Parkinson's Disease (http://www.pitt.edu/~genetics/gcp/public_health/parkinsons.pdf) and BSE (Mad-Cow disease). All three diseases have been shown in many laboratory experiments as having been caused by the presence of massive amounts of free radicals and environmental toxins present in a patient's system (there was only a 1% chance of the diseases being caused by "genetic susceptibility").
My argument:
Clearly, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Mad-Cow Disease are all caused by the way we humans have revolutionized and transformed our world -- which has had a direct result on compromising our immune and neurological systems. You simply can't bombard the human body with pesticides, herbicides, radiation, and foreign chemicals and expect that there wouldn't be consequence. It may take a long time for the effects to show up, but eventually, they do... as is usually the case with these three diseases (they usually occur within 10-40 years after initial exposure).
So, although this new therapy is VERY important in the battle to help slow and stop Alzheimer's, it is, sadly, still just a band-aid fix. Until we change the way we live our lives -- i.e. get rid of the chemicals and change the way we farm our agriculture -- the problem will still exist.
But, will people be willing to give up their plastics, and stop allowing clever marketing and shelf stocking to dictate their consumer choices? Will people be willing to give up all of their convienences for sake of their future health? That's the real question.
The reason why many diseases are so common today has more to do with the fact that people are living long enough to catch them. Most cancers don't occur in people younger than thirty. Many are also seem more common because there is simply many, many more people now than there ever was in the past. The third reason we hear more about diseases is that we finally are beginning to understand them, rather than using shamanistic diagnosis. Alzheimer's falls more into this category.
Prions, for example, are proteins, smaller than viruses, that cause many disorders. They appear to be largely due to natural causes (fungus, yeast, the creature itself (i.e. humans)). They were undetectable in the past, and are still largely not understood.
Environmental factors are very important, of course, but disease obviously still occurs in populations in remote places like the high Himalayas and darkest rain forests where industrial effects are minimal.
You could be right though. One study poses the theory that Alzheimer's may be due in part to Aluminum exposure. Perhaps we should start using more glass and plastic beverage containers then.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-03-30 04:08 pm (UTC)Alzheimer's is a prion disease that was disagnosed in 1907 by a German doctor working with impoverished Briton industrial workers. In a nutshell, the disease causes non-functional cellular build up in the brain, which kills off normal functioning brain cells (for a crude visual: it turns the brain into swiss cheese, and leaves behind strands of plaque). The result is memory loss, motor & neurological function loss, as well as general personality disorders and even hallucinations (http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp, http://alzheimers.about.com/cs/diagnosisissues/a/what_alzheimers.htm, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alzheimers/AZ99999).
Alzheimer's is in the same family as Parkinson's Disease (http://www.pitt.edu/~genetics/gcp/public_health/parkinsons.pdf) and BSE (Mad-Cow disease). All three diseases have been shown in many laboratory experiments as having been caused by the presence of massive amounts of free radicals and environmental toxins present in a patient's system (there was only a 1% chance of the diseases being caused by "genetic susceptibility").
My argument:
Clearly, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Mad-Cow Disease are all caused by the way we humans have revolutionized and transformed our world -- which has had a direct result on compromising our immune and neurological systems. You simply can't bombard the human body with pesticides, herbicides, radiation, and foreign chemicals and expect that there wouldn't be consequence. It may take a long time for the effects to show up, but eventually, they do... as is usually the case with these three diseases (they usually occur within 10-40 years after initial exposure).
So, although this new therapy is VERY important in the battle to help slow and stop Alzheimer's, it is, sadly, still just a band-aid fix. Until we change the way we live our lives -- i.e. get rid of the chemicals and change the way we farm our agriculture -- the problem will still exist.
But, will people be willing to give up their plastics, and stop allowing clever marketing and shelf stocking to dictate their consumer choices? Will people be willing to give up all of their convienences for sake of their future health? That's the real question.
Thanks for posting this. Interesting article!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-30 08:54 pm (UTC)Many are also seem more common because there is simply many, many more people now than there ever was in the past.
The third reason we hear more about diseases is that we finally are beginning to understand them, rather than using shamanistic diagnosis. Alzheimer's falls more into this category.
Prions, for example, are proteins, smaller than viruses, that cause many disorders. They appear to be largely due to natural causes (fungus, yeast, the creature itself (i.e. humans)). They were undetectable in the past, and are still largely not understood.
Environmental factors are very important, of course, but disease obviously still occurs in populations in remote places like the high Himalayas and darkest rain forests where industrial effects are minimal.
You could be right though. One study poses the theory that Alzheimer's may be due in part to Aluminum exposure. Perhaps we should start using more glass and plastic beverage containers then.