It won’t make quitting any easier, but if a person needs another reason to stop smoking, here it is.
A couple of recent studies have reached the conclusion that smoking can increase the risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 50%. One of the studies excluded people with any known genetic link to Alzheimer’s. Again, like so many summaries of studies I find, this one did not actually give the numbers involved. If the risk for people without the genetic link went from 1 in a million to 1.5 in a million, that would be very different than if it went from 1 in 100 to 1.5 in 100 people, but maybe I am thinking of that incorrectly? What ever the numbers, a 50% increase is significant.
There is another post here that along with the comments has some further Alzheimer’s information. There are also many sites dedicated to this cruel disease. Deb at Bird on a Wire is working on “1 Million Memories“. Check that out for a way to publicize the search for a cure.
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Anything can and may cause anything. There is almost, absolutely, never just one cause in operation at a given time. However – the import of my comment is to direct the readers focus toward the causes of health rather than the causes of the many thousands of ‘diseases.’
Any takers?
Still it is interesting to know there is a increase if you smoke, I wonder how they came up with that number?
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This is such a disturbing disease for the patient and their family. My grandmother was hit with it. The roughest part was the beginning, when she still had some good days and she knew that she was loosing her memory. Ironically, once her memory was virtually gone, she was the happiest I’d ever seen her. She thought she was living at home with her siblings. She remembered them, but none of us. Quite sad.
Of course, she didn’t smoke.
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Sorry to hear it hit your family, Andrew. There are so many theories and suspicions about causes. Even if smoking increases your chances, it is still only one of many possible contributing factors, including genetics. I am no expert and have no personal experience with the disease. But, I think it is a frightening disease as our memories are crucial to who we are and the thought of losing them is hard to imagine.
Another reader here left a link to a very interesting article in one of their comments. Potatoes and Alzheimer’s treatment.