The Doctors: Beta Carotene, Beet Juice & Aspirin Prevent Alzheimers

The Doctors: Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Disease Risk?

According to The Doctors TV show, 18 million people share the Alzheimer’s Disease diagnosis, and it’s the sixth leading cause of death. There are steps that you can take to protect your brain and reduce your risk.

Readers Digest Editor-in-Chief Liz Vaccariello joined The Drs. to discuss these steps. Vaccariello said their latest issue discusses 50 secrets surgeons won’t tell you, and Dr. Andrew Ordon’s plastic surgery advice was featured.

The Doctors: Sharpest Cities in America

There is also a feature in Readers Digest about the sharpest cities in America – cities with the lowest instances of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. They found that these cities shared common traits – people in them got outside a lot and exercised.

Vaccariello said that your overall health has a great impact on your Dementia risk. If you are overweight you have twice the risk, if you’re overweight you have six times the risk and another study showed that if you go to church or a place of worship once a week, you’ll have 40% less memory loss.

The Doctors: Beet Juice & Aspirin Prevent Alzheimers

Some steps to possibly reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer’s Disease are:

• Drink beet juice. Beet juice has been shown to improve blood flow to the brain and white matter. The Doctors were a little grossed out by this, but Dr. Ordon loves it. He said he’s Polish and instead of getting milk as a child, he was given beet juice. Dr. Travis Stork, who hates beets, was shocked to find out after trying it that beet juice isn’t bad.
• Eat sweet potatoes, cantaloupe and carrots for Beta Carotene. Researchers have found that Beta Carotene can help prevent neurodegeneration.
• Take aspirin to prevent Alzheimers. People who take an aspirin a day have been shown to have a 45% less chance of Alzheimer’s.
• Use your computer. Researchers found a 40% less cognitive decline among people who were using a computer.

Vaccariello gifted everyone in the audience with a one year subscription to Reader’s Digest and suggested that everyone play the Word Power game in it to boost their vocabulary.