Peter J. Whitehouse, MD, PhD

In November 1901, German psychiatist Alois Alzheimer encountered a woman named Auguste Deter (Auguste D, as she came to be known) who had been brought to Alzheimer's Frankfurt clinic by her husband.

According to the husband, the couple had been harmoniously married since 1873, but he had recently noticed a gradual decline in his wife that went beyond short- and long-term memory loss.  At the relatively young age of 51, she had become disturbingly absent-minded, making obvious mistakes in food preparation, neglecting her housework, stashing objects in nooks and crannies around their apartment, wandering aimlessly from room to room, and suffering from intense bouts of jealousy and paranoia. Read more…

The notion that dementia must be understood from a lifespan perspective rather than as an end-of-life condition is beginning to gain traction. There is mounting evidence that lead exposure in childhood, and even before birth, may have developmental programming effects that contribute to increased risk for brain aging later in life.

A 2005 study led by Riyaz Basha and colleagues demonstrated an Alzheimer's-like pathology in older rats after early-life exposure to lead. A follow-up study in 2007 study by Jinfang Wu and colleagues substantiated the evidence for a developmental origin for brain aging using monkey models. There is growing evidence that mercury and pesticide exposure in early life may also predispose individuals to greater risk of dementia. Read more…

For decades, aluminum has made headlines as a possible cause of dementia. Studies dating back to the mid-20th century have shown that feeding rats large amounts of aluminum can lead to a type of neurofibrillary tangle. These reports have received generous coverage in the press and given rise to concern about the safety of the metal, which is, of course, present in our kitchens, not to mention in automobiles, airplanes, and elsewhere. Although the reports have generated widespread concern, the aluminum hypothesis has been seriously challenged -- one might even say totally discredited -- and consequently has been marginalized in recent years. Read more…

Thanks to improved nutrition, better veterinary care, and safer home environments, household pets are living longer than ever. And like humans, as animals grow older, their brains undergo the normal structural and functional changes that accompany age -- all of which can alter memory and behavior. Read more…

We often joke that if we had a penny for every claim of a "breakthrough" for Alzheimer's, maybe there'd be a breakthrough for Alzheimer's. Newspapers, magazines, and the Internet are replete with stories making such promises, and it's common to come across articles hailing experimental treatments, miracle foods, new screening tools, powerful brain scans, or challenging cognitive activities that purport to advance our war on Alzheimer's.

With the hope of protecting you against sensationalism and false hope, here are a five things to keep in mind when reading stories about Alzheimer's disease research.
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