Dr. Katz believes that dementia is substantially preventable. Some dementias are vascular. Risk factors for coronary disease are the same as risk factors for dementia. These include smoking, poor diet, no exercise, overweight, diabetes, hypertension, etc. The arteries in the brain get restricted just as they do in the heart. The result? Dementia. The vascular injury comes first and then later we see the other morphologies appear.

Another theory is that Alzheimer’s dementia is diabetes type III. The cells in the brain become resistant to insulin and don’t allow sugars to enter the cell for fuel. We know how to prevent insulin resistance 95% of the time through diet, exercise and weight control.

Dr. Katz cites data from Dan Buettner’s book The Blue Zones where there are the largest numbers of centenarians with very low rates of dementia. The key seems to be lifestyle – good diet that is mostly plants, no tobacco, plenty of exercise, adequate sleep, low stress, and a good supportive sense of community.

We can all work to incorporate healthy living principles into our lives. For example, one can take exercise breaks during the day for stress relief. It takes personal commitment. Dr. Katz exercises each morning and eats mostly vegetarian (His wife has a free recipe website called Cuisinicity). Healthy relationships are key, including pets. He gets plenty of sleep and avoids tobacco and alcohol. The commitment requires skill and developing the skill set to succeed.

He has developed a program on healthy living called “Nutrition Detectives” on DVD. He has also helped develop a program in over 1,700 supermarkets in the US called “NuVal.” It offers a scale from 1-100 for food values. The higher the number, the more nutritious the food.

We all have the ability to make good choices. The simple reality at the end of all this, whether we are talking dementia, heart disease, stroke, cancer or diabetes, is that these things that routinely take years from our lives and life from our years are preventable with the knowledge we have had for years.