Introduction
The purpose of this study is to review the effectiveness of lifestyle on the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease for at risk populations. The study considers quantitative study which involve the use of control and experimental groups in which the control group is motivated on the effects of lifestyle particularly lack of inactivity (exercise) and healthy eating in groups of individuals who are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's. An observation of the pretest and post test of the control and experimental group will clearly indicate the contribution and its magnitude of exercise and healthy eating in the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Different clinical trials exist on the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. These trials include; treatment trials which focus on testing new treatments, diagnostic trials that aim to find new tests for diagnosing the disease. Prevention trials focus on investigative ways of preventing the onset of diseases. This study considers the preventative strategies that can be used as intervention measures for the reduction in the rates of the development of Alzheimer's disease for at risk populations.
There have been studies which have been conducted to determine the effect of exercise and healthy eating on the development of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Their focus, however, has been on the association between Alzheimer's disease and diseases caused by unhealthy eating habits like cardiovascular disease, obesity and hypertension. The studies lack to clearly indicate the percentage of risk of developing the disease if the groups at risk engaged in healthy lifestyles.
The research question being considered in the study is 'does exercise and healthy eating reduce the risk factors associated with the development of Alzheimer's disease?'
The null hypothesis being tested is;
Exercise and healthy eating has no significant effect on the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Against the alternative hypothesis
Exercise and healthy eating has a significant effect on the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Previous studies
Previous studies conducted on the contribution of healthy eating and exercising in the development of Alzheimer's disease and dementia include;
Gregory, 2011 conducted a study to establish why vitamin E therapy fails or treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Vitamin E is a soluble anti-oxidant which has been established to significantly increase the mortality when taken in doses of over 400 IU/day. There is an increase in the oxidized macromolecules for both individuals with Alzheimer's disease and old people. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant and it is expected to reduce oxidation which is a causing symptom for Alzheimer's disease. The findings does indicate that the anti-oxidant (vitamin E) does reduce the plasma oxidant stress for approximately half of the Alzheimer's disease patients. The ineffectiveness of vitamin E in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease can be considered to be as a result of the presence of an oxidized plasma redox potential that hinders the eradication of the oxyradical damage by the anti-oxidant. There is a need for future studies to compute the redox potential of Alzheimer's disease patients so as to decrease the toxicity levels and efficacy (Gregory, 2011). this article was chosen because it defines Alzheimer's disease based on oxidation symptoms and how the risks can be reduced through the use of vitamin E which is an anti oxidant. The study does support the research that will be conducted because it fails to explain the ineffectiveness of Alzheimer's disease treatment through the use of vitamin E. this offers a gap in knowledge and this could be understood by carrying out a detailed study.
The study 'Diagnosis and treatment of dementia: 1. Risk assessment and primary prevention of Alzheimer's disease' considers the effects of changeable factors like hypertension and environmental exposures on the risk of development of Alzheimer's disease. The study which considers 1719 articles that have been published on dementia and Alzheimer's disease, established that there is limited knowledge on the societal burdens, genetic predisposition and the contribution of other risk factors on the development of dementia. Therefore, owing to the limited data on the prevention general perils and the profit associated with the prevention measures of dementia and Alzheimer's disease there is need top carry out more studies so as to fill the gap in the knowledge on dementia and Alzheimer's disease (Patterson, et al, 2008). the study does support the research at hand because it does identify that there are limited data on the risk factors of the development of Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, the frequent changes of disease pathogens of Alzheimer's disease provide ground for frequent research.
Global figures estimate the current prevalence f dementia to be approximately 24 million and this figure is expected to be twice as much in twenty years time. This study tries to understand the causing factors of Alzheimer's disease through a review of the incidence and preponderance rates and the environmental factors of the disease (Mayeux & Stern, 2012). The study supports the research at hand because it considers environmental factors which include food and activity levels. The anticipated increase in the nuber of patients with te disease also provide grounds for research to establish preventative measures to decrease the development of the disease.
The findings of an study by Struble et al, 2011 indicate that irrespective of the etiology, a reduction in brain metabolic activity is the causing factor in the development of dementia. Reduction in activity leads to a cognitive decline as well as a reduction of Aβ whose production is influenced by lifestyle choices (Struble et al, 2011). there is a strong link between exercise and metabolic activity and the findings of this article form the fundamental basis of the research to be conducted. The gap on the link between cognitive decline and lifestyle is not clearly detailed and this forms the basis of my research.
There have been new approaches that seek to prevent the development of Alzheimer's disease and they include; the enrichment strategies of that are founded on the genetic predispositions of the patient's of Alzheimer's disease. The approaches also consider the lifesytle implicated risk factors that are associated with the disease. The objective of the prevention startegy is to decrease the occurrence of the disease through promoting the adoption of healthy habits and also controlling the other potential causes of Alzheimer's disease. In addition, continually improving models of the disease is a factor that motivates frequent research on the disease. The study recommends the target of risk factors for dementia when they have the strongest effect among other recommendations (Alina, et al, 2015). the article discusses two aspects of preventative measures for Alzheimer's disease. Genetic predisposition only offers the possibility of early diagnosis from where the prevention measures can be implemented. The article discusses the factors that will be considered mostly in the research at hand and as such the article is very important in providing the theoretical aspect of the research at hand.
Vascular cognitive impairment is presented to understand the overall aspect of the cognitive complications associated with cerebral vascular brain injury. Potential research could be carried out to observe the effect of intervention strategies in the reduction of Alzheimer's disease at an early stage (Gorelick et al, 2013). The research being conducted is interested in exploring the intervention measures in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. The article is important because it will be used in the definition of the possible variables that will be used to define the preventative measures to reduce the risk factors of developing Alzheimer's disease.
Power et al, 2013 conducted a study to estimate the relationship between systolic, diastolic blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease. The study considers the cohort and control groups in an attempt to justify the association between blood pressure and Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies indicate association between age and Alzheimer's disease and this study also incorporates this added knowledge. Te study considered published work and as such there was the possibility f a bias. The indication of the presence of a significant association between Alzheimer's disease and blood pressure may also be as a result of selection error, misclassification among other factors. Blood pressure levels is highly linked to the lifestyle of an individual even though genetic predisposition does plays a role. The research is considering the lifestyle of an individual that s exercise and eating habits and these are the causing factors of blood pressure. Therefore, the article is important in the study as it defines the link between our variable of interest (lifestyle) and Alzheimer's disease.
Several factors that affect the development of Alzheimer's disease and its progress to dementia have been defined and they include, vascular, genetic, lifestyle, and psychological that act independently or jointly to develop the disease. These factors have been used in the predicition of the probability of developing dementia for at risk populations (Imtiaz et al, 2014).
this article provides a general overview of the factors that have been explored in the articles considered in the study. Furthermore, it offers additional information from the recommendations and the findings section which could aid in better understanding the possible limitations and expected results of the study.
References:
Brewer. J. W. (2010). Why vitamin E therapy fails for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. U S National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health. 19 91): 27-30.
Patterson, C., Feighter, J. W., Garcia, A., Hsiung, R. G., Macknight, C. & Sadovnick, D. A. (2008). Diagnosis and treatment of dementia: 1. Risk assessment and primary prevention of Alzheimer's disease. CMAJ.JAMC. 178 (5): 548-556.
Mayeux, R. & Stern, Y. (2012). Epidemiology of Alzheimer's Disease. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2 (8).
Struble, G. R., Ala, T., Patrylo, R. P., Brewer, G. J., & Yan, X. (2011). Is Brain Amyloid Production a Cause or a Result of Dementia of the Alzheimer Type? J Alzheimer's Dis. 2010; 22 (2): 393-399.
Alina, S., Mangialasche, F., Richard, E., Andrieu, S., Bennett, D. A. Breteler, M., Fratiglioni, L., Hooshmand, B., Khachaturian. S. A., Schneider, L. S., Skoog, I. & Kivipelto, M. (2015). Advances in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. J Intern Med. 2014: 275 (3): 229-250.
Imtiaz, B., Tolppanen, A. M., Kivipelto, M., & Soininen, H. (2014). Future directions in Alzheimer's disease from risk factors to prevention. Biochem Pharmacol. 2014. 88 (4): 661-670.
Gorelick, P. B., Scuteri, A., Black, S. E., DeCarli, C., Green berg, S. M., Iadecola, C., Launer, L.J., Laurent, S., Lopez, O. L., Nyenhuis, D., Petersen, R. C., Schneider, J. A., Tzourio, C., A rnett, D. K., Bennet, D. A., Chui, H. C.,Higashida, R. T., Lindquist, R., Nilsson, P. M. Roman, G. C., Sellke, F. W. & Seshadri, S. (2013). Vascular Contributions to Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. Stoke.201 Sep; 42(9): 2672-2713.
Power, M.C., Weuve, J., Gagne, J. J., McQueen, B. M., Viswanathan, A., & Blacker, D. (2013) The association between blood pressure and incident Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Epidemology.2011 Sep; 22 (5): 646-659.
