Alzheimer's disease isn't just for old people
Funding for dementia research lags behind other major diseases
"Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. There is currently no cure, and the only available drug treatments, while masking the initial symptoms — memory loss, difficulties with problem solving and temporal and spatial relationships among them —do not delay the eventual atrophy of the brain. There is also no known way to prevent the disease, though a heart-healthy diet and strenuous regular exercise are both recommended to help stall its onset.
Late onset Alzheimer's, pegged to those 65 and older, is generally accepted as a disease of aging. The longer people live, the more likely they are to develop the disease. However, in the early onset, or familial, version of Alzheimer's that accounts for about 4 percent of cases, or 200,000 nationally, it is caused by an inherited genetic mutation, and typically strikes before age 50."
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