Alzheimer’s disease, a devastating type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior, has two types: early-onset (sometimes called younger-onset) and late-onset. Late-onset Alzheimer’s is the culprit in most cases of lost mental function in people over sixty-five. Early-onset is much rarer. Only about 5 percent of those who develop Alzheimer’s show signs of it before age sixty- five. The brains of Alzheimer’s patients contain distinctive, abnormally shaped proteins known as tangles and plaques. Tangles are found inside neurons while plaques typically form outside the neurons in adjacent brain tissue. Tangles and plaques most commonly afflict the brain areas related to memory. In the 1980’s, re- searchers found that a compound in plaques known as amyloid protein may actually be poisonous to brain cells. More recent research suggests that a protein called tau may be responsible for the telltale tangles found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. In healthy brains tau proteins give neurons structural support, but in Alzheimer’s patients this structural support collapses into useless twists and tangles.
To minimize your risk for Alzheimer’s, change your lifestyle to a healthy one: good diet, lots of exercise, and plenty of mental stimulation.