Talk:Alzheimer's disease

I've just added a rewrite of the Introduction at Wikipedia. I happened to write the current-consensus intro there (as it was originally mostly 'technical' and as an editor I favour "general reader" language), so it was difficult for me to do it completely differently (which I'd have liked) - but I think I've made some language improvements though, going through it again. I've turned some of it into new sections, which will hopefully encourage further editing.

I've also added an "Alzheimer's in society" section with a few famous sufferer's names in it. --Matt Lewis 17:26, 26 March 2008 (CDT)

Curry?

There have been a number of things published about curry or tumeric and AD. The one I recall & was searching for claimed India and Pakistan had much lower rates of AD than other nations and scientists were looking for the reasons, with food as the prime suspect.

The one I found has a study showing effects in mice: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/5436618/Curry-may-prevent-Alzheimers-disease-expert-says.html

Can someone who knows the area please look at this? Sandy Harris 04:34, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I get a little nervous when the reference points to an author, admittedly credentialed, on a tour for a consumer book. Yes, he did present to a conference, which may or may not have tight review. On searching Medline for his name with Alzheimer's, I'm coming up with various correspondence, reviews on the role of neuroimaging in cognitive impairment, the possible role of genetic and nutritional factors, and the standard for proof, but nothing mentioning curry in the titles. I did not read the articles to see if curry is one of the nutritional factors. Howard C. Berkowitz 10:39, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm just doing web searches, Alzheimer's plus curry or turmeric, or curcuma. I get plenty of sites and plenty of claims, some with references to journal papers. Here's a typical example, with a long list of references: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=78#references I cannot evaluate these, but I'd appreciate if those who know the field would.

I have a curry simmering as I write. Perhaps I am rationalizing? Sandy Harris 11:12, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Aluminium?

There's also been much discussion of a putative link between aluminium and AD. A web search turns up sites which consider the linkage indisputable, others which label it speculative, and various positions between. One of the things I'd like an encyclopedia article to do for me is to clarify this. Sandy Harris 06:03, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Websites, or reviewed journals? In general, there's an issue of causality. Aluminium is present in some of the deposits doing the damage, but it appears that the aluminium is drawn from general body stores; increasing the aluminium input does not increase Alzheimers. It has become an issue where the advocates want a negative proved, comparably to mercury causing multiple sclerosis or autism. In the multiple sclerosis case, an environmental study was possible: dentists who used mercury amalgam showed no higher incidence of MS than a comparable general population.

I should leave the details to our neuroscientistsHoward C. Berkowitz 10:28, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Auguste D (image here and in article)

In the interest of privacy, it's the general practice of medical journals to at least obscure the faces of patients in illustration, unless a whole-face image shows a characteristic manifestation of the disease. There seems no explanation of why a fully recognizable face, even if the patient name is obscurred, is essential to the articles.

Without such an explanation, I believe the image should be deleted. Howard C. Berkowitz 10:43, 2 September 2010 (UTC)