Question:

I have written a book "Dying for a Hamburger" in which I explore the relationship between commercial meat packing and the rise of Alzheimer's Disease(AD). I feel that rates of AD closly follow the advent of commercial meat packing. This explains why pre 1900 it is almost impossable to find any evidence of AD in any literature. Medical, secular or religous. Also geographically AD follows this industry which would explain the high rates in the US and Western Europe and the low rates in India and equatorial Africa.Also why Japan and Korea only started to report significant numbers of AD in the 1960s after they switched from a vegitarian/fish diet to a beef/meat diet. Aluminum is used equally in all these countries but AD rates vary widely. Also although on average people are living longer today that is due in large part to the sharp decrease in prinatal and infant mortality. The life expectancy at age 21 has only gone up about 10 years since the 1600s. I feel in some way AD is caused by prions or prion

Answer:

Well, Alzheimer's disease was originally defined as unusually early onset of senile dementia, i.e. in people in middle age. It's only recently that the condition so common in the elderly was recognized as the same disease, rather than a normal consequence of aging. Before the 1960's the definition of the disease was different, so you wouldn't expect it to be reported as such. Note also that life expectancy of adults is comparatively low in both India and equatorial Africa, access to medical care is poor and record keeping and reporting are often non-existent. Thus, there isn't much comparison. As in the developed world until very recently, people there would regard senile dementia as normal in the very few people who reach their 80s. Also that in the absence of modern medical care, the frail elderly don't survive very long, and this is the group with the highest rate of AD. Most of these people wouldn't survive long enough for their AD to progress to the more advanced stages.

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