Causes

What causes Alzheimer's Disease?

There is much still unknown regarding the causes of Alzheimer's, despite an abundance of research into this disease. It is known that brain cells begin to die, lower levels of neurotransmitters are produced, and neurons begin to lose their ability to pass messages along their normal pathways. There appears to be a variety of reasons why these malfunctions begin to take place. Factors that appear to be connected to developing Alzheimer's include:

• Age (the number of cases doubles every 5 years for people over they age of 65)
• Genetics-family history, chromosome 19 coding for apolipoprotein E (ApoE4), abnormality of chromosome 1, 14 or 21
• Lower education levels
• Unhealthy diet
• Environment
• Low level of participation in physical, mental and social activities
• High blood pressure can damage blood vessels and reduce oxygen supply to brain cells
• High cholesterol can block blood vessels and reduce oxygen supply to brain cells
• Low blood levels of Vitamin 6, B12 or folate
• High homocysteine levels
• Diabetes