5 Ways to Save Your Kids from Alzheimer’s Now:

March 4, 2013 NIMASH

Alzheimer’s isn’t just a disease that starts in old age. What happens to your child’s brain seems to have a dramatic impact on his or her likelihood of Alzheimer’s many decades later.

Here are five things you can do now to help save your child from Alzheimer’s and memory loss later in life, according to the latest research.

1. Prevent head blows:
Insist your child wear a helmet during biking, skating, skiing, baseball, football, hockey, and all contact sports. A major blow as well as tiny repetitive unnoticed concussions can cause damage, leading to memory loss and Alzheimer’s years later.

2 Encourage language skills:
A teenage girl who is a superior writer is eight times more likely to escape Alzheimer’s in late life than a teen with poor linguistic skills. Teaching young children to be fluent in two or more languages makes them less vulnerable to Alzheimer’s.

3. Insist your child go to college: Education is a powerful Alzheimer’s deterrent.
The more years of formal schooling, the lower the odds. Most Alzheimer’s prone: teenage drop outs. For each year of education, your risk of dementia drops 11%, says a recent University of Cambridge study.

4. Provide stimulation:
Keep your child’s brain busy with physical, mental and social activities and novel experiences. All these contribute to a bigger, better functioning brain with more so-called ‘cognitive reserve.’ High cognitive reserve protects against memory decline and Alzheimer’s.

5. Spare the junk food: Lab animals raised on berries, spinach and high omega-3 fish have great memories in old age.
Those overfed sugar, especially high fructose in soft drinks, saturated fat and trans fats become overweight and diabetic, with smaller brains and impaired memories as they age, a prelude to Alzheimer’s.

*Excerpted from

Jean Carper’s newest book:
“100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s

Jean Carper (born January 3, 1932) is a New York Times best-selling author, an American medical journalist, syndicated columnist, consumer advocate and author of 24 books including Your Miracle Brain, Miracle Cures, the award-winning Stop Aging Now!, Food: Your Miracle Medicine and The Food Pharmacy. Her latest book, 100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s was released in September 2010.