To What Degree is Alzheimer ' s Disease a Modern Phenomenon?

Here find an interesting commentary on what might be gleaned of the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease in antiquity from the body of ancient writings on the topic of aging, memory, and health. The consensus is that Alzheimer's disease is a creation of modernity, some combination of a longer life expectancy for a greater fraction of the population coupled with increased calorie intake and less active lives. Yet unlike type 2 diabetes, risk of Alzheimer's risk doesn't correlate well with the usual suspect lifestyle choices that raise the risk of age-related disease and lower life expectancy. This line of thinking has led to many hypotheses on the contributing factors leading to Alzheimer's disease. Some are unsupported by anything other than coincidence, comparing the introduction of a new factor in modern lives with the rising incidence of Alzheimer's disease, such as the thought that paracetamol use is causing this form of neurodegeneration. Better supported by the evidence is the view that persistent viral infection is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. Since viruses evolve rapidly over time, it is tempting to speculate on the role of this viral evolution in an increased burden of Alzheimer's in the aged population today - but this is indeed only speculation. It is also hard to reconcile this hypothesis with the relative lack of Alzheimer's disease in modern hunter-gatherer populations. Did the ancient Greeks and Romans experience Alzheimer's? ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs