Pharmahealthblog. Health and medical information

Swedish women, internationally known for their luscious complexions and youthful beauty, use certain natural foods to stay beautiful.

Swedish beauty secret number one—rose hips—is also Swedish rejuvenation secret number one: Rose hips tea is the Swedish fountain of youth!

Here’s how rose hips can keep you young. Russian scientists have discovered that vitamin C has a profound stimulating effect on the adrenal glands. Adrenal glands secrete over 20 steroid hormones which are directly involved in keeping your vital bodily processes in a condition of high efficiency. It is generally agreed that a decrease in the output of these hormones, which usually begins in late middle life, is responsible for the symptoms of aging. Russian researchers have demonstrated that substantial daily doses of vitamin C have a rejuvenating, stimulating effect on the glandular activity, and the vital hormones are once more produced at higher levels, similar to the level of younger people.

Vitamin C is also known to play an essential part in the oxidation-reduction system of tissue respiration, as shown by Dr. W. J. McCormick, M.D. In addition, vitamin C is a known chemotherapeutic agent; in fact it is the most potent natural “drug” known in the therapy of practically all bacterial and viral infections. Vitamin C is also a highly potent anti-toxic agent and protects the body from all kinds of poisonous substances, both those originating within the system, as a result of sluggish digestion and elimination, as well as those introduced into the system by food, water and air. Since growing old is often associated with sluggish metabolism and autointoxication, it is easy to see how large doses of vitamin C can have a rejuvenating effect on old people.

There is also growing evidence that the aging process is largely a matter Of the diminished oxygenation of the cells. Vitamin C has a great effect on improved cell breathing and thus prevents premature aging.

Perhaps the most vital function of vitamin C is in keeping collagen, the cellular cement, healthy. The visible symptoms of aging are mainly in the condition of the skin. It loses its youthful tight appearance and fresh color and becomes gray, dull, loose and flabby. Finally wrinkles appear all over, particularly on the face, neck and hands. These aging symptoms are largely due to the unhealthy state of collagen. Collagen is an elastic substance that holds all the tissues together—tissues of the muscles, organs, tendons, and last but not least, the tissues of the skin. When these connective tissues are healthy, they are strong and elastic and the skin is tight and has the look of youth. When collagen loses its tensile strength, muscles sag, the subcutaneous tissues (the layer just beneath the skin) become weak and lose their tension, and the skin becomes covered with wrinkles. What causes these degenerative changes in collagen? The answer is simple—the deficiency of vitamin C.

Now you can see why Russian scientists believe that they have found the Fountain of Youth in vitamin C.

Hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis, and heart attacks are true diseases of premature aging. Many doctors believe that you are as old as your arteries. Recently, Boris Sokoloff, M.D., Director of the Southern Bio-Research Institute, Florida, reported that their conclusions, based on research and widespread evidence from medical literature, is that ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is the key factor in averting atherosclerosis, and that atherosclerosis (heart disease leading to heart attack) may, in fact, well be a vitamin C deficiency disease.1

The healthy function of sex glands is directly related to general health and to the prolonged feeling and appearance of youth. A Japanese doctor, M. Higuchi, has demonstrated that there is a relationship between vitamin C levels and the hormone production of the sex glands. In addition to vitamin C, vitamin E (which is sold in automatic dispensers in Sweden labeled as the sex-vitamin) plays an important part in the efficient activity of the sex glands. Prostatic fluid, which nourishes the sperm and keeps them alive, is extremely rich in vitamin C. A deficiency of vitamin C and vitamin E can slow down the hormone production of sex glands and consequently lead to premature aging.

Vitamin C—the miracle producer

If there ever has been a real miracle drug, vitamin C is it. It has so many universal applications that it is virtually impossible to find a condition of ill health, disease or diminished well-being which vitamin C would not affect favorably, very often with a miraculous healing effect. Since old age is often associated with various conditions of diminished health, it stands to reason that vitamin C should be a rejuvenating tonic number one for everyone over 40 years of age.

Do you get sufficient amounts of vitamin C in your diet? A recent Department of Agriculture report tells us that almost half of the American people eat diets deficient in vitamins C and A. Vitamin E is practically totally eliminated from American diet due to the refining of grains and oils; and available vitamin C in the American diet has been steadily declining for the last 20 years.

Swedish people have been using large amounts of vitamin C for centuries. Rose hips, the richest natural vitamin C source known to man (with the exception of acerola cherries), is a staple food in Sweden. They use it daily in the form of rose hip tea,1 rose hip soup, rose hip puree, etc.

Swedish people have another secret of staying young—whey. In Sweden whey is a staple food in the form of whey cheese and whey butter. In the United States you can obtain whey in a powder or tablet form from health food stores. Make a habit of eating some whey each day. It may surprise you by solving all your irregularity problems and make you feel—and look—ten years younger practically overnight!

*124\58\2*

Supplement your diet with the following food supplements and vitamins which have been found to be of particular benefit in cases of high blood pressure:

Choline. It has been demonstrated that deficiency in choline, one of the B-vitamins, plays a role in the development of high blood pressure. Patients with dangerous hypertension improved markedly after they had been given choline daily. Their blood pressure dropped and their capillaries were strengthened.3 Lecithin, made from soybeans, is an excellent source of choline. Brewer’s yeast is also an excellent source of choline and all the other B-vitamins.

Vitamin E. Because vitamin E helps oxygenate the blood and decreases the need for oxygen, it is of special importance for patients with high blood pressure. Vitamin E also dilates the arteries. Wheat germ oil is the richest source of natural vitamin E.

Vitamin C. Natural vitamin C strengthens the blood vessels and blood capillaries and makes them more elastic. Therefore, more vitamin C in the diet may prevent cerebral hemorrhage caused by weak blood capillaries. It is important to take only natural vitamin C, which also contains vitamin P, or bioflavonoids. Bioflavonoids are of particular importance for the health of blood capillaries. The study made in Russia by Dr. D. E. Dzheims-Levi shows that bioflavonoids, or vitamin P, have a curative effect on high blood pressure. “On the basis of our observations we concluded that vitamin P has a beneficial effect on the well-being of patients and considerably lowers the blood pressure of patients with hypertension—blood pressure rises again when the patients discontinue vitamin P treatment.”

Potassium. It has been demonstrated in animal tests that potassium deficiency can be one of the causes of high blood pressure. It is known that excessive salt intake will cause the loss of potassium. The incidence of hypertension is greater in countries with excessive salt intake. Also, the wide use of refined foods and too few green leafy vegetables in the diet contributes to the very common potassium deficiency. The best sources of potassium are fresh or cooked green leafy vegetables. Avoid salt if you have high blood pressure. Substitute salt with kelp, which is also very rich in potassium.

Garlic. There is much material in medical literature which suggests that garlic has a dilating effect on blood vessels and is effective in reducing blood pressure. Dr. F. G. Piotrowski, of the University of Geneva, used garlic on 100 patients with abnormal blood pressure, with excellent results.

*97\58\2*

In order to make a thorough investigation of the iris-signs, it is first necessary to consider which type of sign. We distinguish three kinds of signs in the iris:

1. Unnatural colourings.

2. White, dark and black signs—chiefly as dots, radiating lines or ‘wisps’.

3. Circular signs—called ‘Contraction rings’.

1. The unnatural colourings have their basis in the circulatory fluids of the body. These circulatory fluids (blood and lymph) are affected by external and internal influences, as through medication, or autointoxication, and changes due to uric acid or biliary disturbances. These pathological changes in the lymph are revealed not only by the skin and mucous membranes, but show also in the iris and the sclera, as is evident in jaundice. There are also the deposits in tissues, as may occur in rheumatism and gout.

2. Special attention is given to the white, dark and black signs of the iris which are generally radiating in direction, and which constitute the first consideration in the recognition of disease conditions. White signs may also indicate unnatural substances, as with uric-acid crystalline deposits, arteriosclerosis, etc.

The next signs to investigate are the inflammation-signs. These appear with acute diseases, and either disappear on recovery, or become darker and darker with the transition to the chronic phase, and ultimately change to black signs with the direct loss of tissue-substance in the organs concerned.

White signs mean: Over-stimulation, increased activity, heightened rhythm (e.g. peristaltic), and irritation of the nerve-fibres.

Dark signs mean: Insufficient stimulation, diminished activity, atony, atrophy, loss of substance: the iris shows loss of colour, thus becoming darker, and with the final destruction of nerve fibres and tissue cells ultimately registers as black signs.

When there is destruction of the nerve-plexus of an organ, how is it that neither the connection nor the result is visible in the iris? It is functionless, and hence useless. In the same way, we can find a plausible explanation for the white healing-signs surrounding the black signs in the iris which indicate loss of substance. It suggests that there is increased functional activity in the tissues adjacent to the nerve plexus —exactly the same in the organ as in the iris. Either the healthy fibres assume the functions of the destroyed nerve pathways, or alternatively initiate a reparative activity by laying down new tissue (scar-tissue) and promoting fibrosis.

In the same way, one can explain the traumatic-lesion signs found in the iris—frequently showing a characteristic shape, i.e. according as whether caused by a blunt or pointed object. It then shows not the form of the instrument but the shape of the injury, as for example the

destroyed tissue and nerve cells.

There are also the so-called ‘lacunae’—small or large open spaces in the iris, which are more easily visible, the more plentiful their surroundings of interweaving thick vascular trunks. These (lacunae) lie between the delicate reticular ramifications of the nerve bundles and indicate functional weaknesses. The ramifications also suggest a weakened organism. The ‘lacunae’ usually appear in the iris in large numbers, if present at all.

3. Contraction rings. Circular signs, called Cramp rings (Nerve rings) which appear as shorter or longer segments of arc, are found only in the ciliary zone. These ‘ring-furrows’ are usually lighter or darker than the remainder of the iris and arise in connection with conditions of continued spasm. Considerable difference of opinion exists as to their origin.

Schnabel ascribes to a slackening or spasm of the sphincters or dilators of the ciliary muscles. Thiel believes that through the continuous regular pull of all the dilator fibres, or at least of a sector of the iris-diaphragm, functioning in the same way as the pupillary margin, that concentric arcs would be formed by circular folds.

Now it is surely remarkable that these rings are found only in the ciliary zone, usually in arcs of smaller or greater length, and this is highly suggestive when it is also observed that not more than four such arcs are to be found running parallel. Surely, it must be considered that the

arc-shape makes it fairly improbable that the radiating fibres of the pupillary dilators could form these rings.

With close observation of the ciliary zone in the normal iris we find three concentric interruptions faintly signified. How do these arise? According to the opinion of Frau Pastor Madaus, they arise in the true nerve fibre. Dr. Andogsky states that these enter the iris in radial bundles. Thereafter they immediately lose their radial direction and turn parallel to the ciliary border, thus forming the first ring, and thereafter sending several thick radial branches towards the pupillary margin with a number of smaller branching distributions.

After which, the larger nerve branches which have traversed approximately a third of the distance to the midway of the total width, again turn parallel to the border and conjoin to form arcs—the second ring. From these, radiating branches project to form a new line of arcs close to the iris-wreath: the third ring. We thus have three concentric contracting rings of iris nerves.

If we apply our understanding of the origin of the white and black radial signs to the nerve rings, then it follows that their bright or dark appearance must be related to conditions of

over-stimulation or deficient stimulation. The arc formation of which the individual rings consist readily explains the appearance of partial rings. If we find a region of the body as localised in the iris so marked, we may certainly assume that these rings give definite indication of disturbance in such parts.

Whether such are always associated with painful attacks—spasms—I cannot confirm, since one frequently finds that there is no history of such conditions. From my observations it appears that cramp-like conditions exist in the bodily organs corresponding to the iris region where the nerve rings show an interruption.

In dealing with ‘nerve-rings’ we must also consider the zone in which they are found. If registering in the Blood-zone, then they indicate disturbances of circulation in the large blood vessels and lymph channels. If found in the other zones—muscular, skeletal, skin—then disturbances exist in those tissues.

During the last twenty years, the incidence of these nerve rings has increased ten to fifteen times. I attribute this to the calcium deficiency arising from the bad nutrition of the war years.

*8\78\2*

At any given moment, different parts of the body are at different temperatures. Moreover, normal temperatures vary as much as one or two degrees Centigrade over the course of a day even when a child is healthy. A rectal temperature of 37.7 °C or less, an oral temperature of 37.7°C or below, and an armpit temperature, though the least accurate, of 36.7°C or less are all considered normal.

Despite these variations, all thermometers are marked to indicate 37°C as normal. A rectal thermometer differs from an oral one only in having a more rugged bulb. (The most practical instrument for home use is a stubby bulb thermometer, which can be used to take a child’s temperature in any of the preferred ways.)

For the most reliable readings at any age, the rectal thermometer is recommended, although it takes a little longer for the temperature to register.

No one can accurately estimate the degree of a fever by touch. If your child feels warm or appears ill, you must use a thermometer to register the accurate temperature that you and your doctor need to know in order to treat the child.

Before using the thermometer, shake it down to be certain the mercury column is below 37°C and the bulb is intact. Then spread the child’s buttocks with the thumb and forefinger of one hand so the anal opening is clearly visible. Lubricate the bulb with petroleum jelly and insert it gently into the center of the anus. The child should feel no pain or discomfort. (Only the bulb portion of the thermometer needs to be inserted for the two to three minutes required to obtain an accurate reading.)

To take a baby’s temperature, place the child face down on a solid surface and put the heel of your hand firmly on the lower back. An unwilling toddler can be firmly clasped between your thighs and bent forward over your leg so that you can take the temperature.

Although less reliable, an oral temperature reading is sufficient and can be taken in a child who is old enough to hold the bulb of the thermometer under the tongue with the mouth closed for three minutes. (If the thermometer breaks and the child accidentally swallows the mercury in the thermometer, don’t fret. Thermometers contain elemental mercury, which is a nonpoisonous and harmless form of the metal.)

*254/84/5*

Symptom: A surface skin wound that is longer and wider than it is deep

Home care: Wash the wound with soap and water and look carefully for embedded dirt or any other foreign matter.

Stop bleeding by covering the wound with gauze and applying gentle pressure.

If there’s no dirt in the wound, apply a non-stinging antiseptic, cover the abrasion, and keep it covered until completely healed.

If necessary, scrub gently to remove embedded dirt. Liberally apply antibiotic ointment to help keep the scab flexible. Keep the area covered.

Precautions

-    Do not treat at home any abrasion that involves the full thickness of the skin; take the child to the doctor.

-    If dirt is left in an abrasion, it may cause infection or become sealed under the skin.

-    An abrasion on an area such as a joint that is subject to constant movement should be swabbed periodically with ointment to prevent cracking.

-    An abrasion that bleeds evenly over its entire surface requires medical attention.

-    Keep your child’s tetanus immunization up to date.

An abrasion is a shallow break in the skin caused by an injury. Abrasions are distinguished from cuts and lacerations in that they are not as deep as they are long or wide. Abrasions are, certainly, the most common and least dangerous injuries sustained by children. Most abrasions do not involve the loss of full thickness of skin and heal with little or no scarring. However, any embedded dirt, sand or gravel may be permanently sealed under the skin if it’s not removed before the abrasion heals.

Signs and symptoms

Abrasions are easy to identify. As long as the full thickness of the skin has not been injured, the entire surface of the abrasion will bleed unevenly and some large and small areas will not bleed at all. When the surface of an abrasion does not bleed uniformly, it is classified as a first-or second-degree abrasion and can be treated at home. A third-degree abrasion bleeds uniformly over its entire surface and must be seen by a doctor because it could leave a scar.

*8/84/5*

Smoking

Cigarette smoking is not only a risk factor for lung and cardiovascular disease. Chronic inflammation of the nasal passages and other components of the upper airway are more likely in smokers, having the same effect as other forms of upper respiratory tract obstruction. Smoking should be regarded as a risk factor for snoring.

Incidence

It wouldn’t be difficult to convince the average lay person that snoring is a common occurrence. We all know someone or have heard stories about someone who snores, but accurate estimates of the incidence of snoring are not easily established. Problems arise when we start asking questions about snoring. For a start, how do you get reliable information from people who sleep by themselves, and how do you classify the ones who snore “sometimes”? Despite these methodological problems, some impressive studies have been reported. A study in Italy involving about 6000 subjects showed that 20% of the selected population was habitual snorers with a further 15% being occasional snorers. A study in Toronto, Canada, collected data on 2629 subjects from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups resulting in an overall snoring incidence of 42%. Detailed analysis of these and subsequent studies tells us a great deal about snoring in different age groups and the association with other medical complaints such as obesity, hypertension and heart disease. Several important trends emerge, particularly the higher incidence of snoring in males and the fact that we are more likely to snore as we get older.

Treatment

The demand for a snoring cure is evidenced by a proliferation of commercially available devices which claim to reduce or eliminate the problem. The techniques are various: hypnosis, designer pillows, electronic snore detectors and mouth appliances. Rather than present an evaluation of every one of these devices, it is intended to give an overview of current modes of treatment based on our understanding of the mechanisms of snoring.

Weight control

For the “uncomplicated” snorer, there are several approaches not requiring medical supervision. Overweight snorers, for example, will always be advised to lose weight regardless of other measures taken. Weight loss seems an absurdly simple way to reduce snoring, to the extent that many snoring patients are disappointed, if not offended, by the suggestion that their weight has anything to do with their nocturnal symptoms. Some recent work suggests that loss of weight is effective not merely because fatty impediments to the airway are removed, but because the function of the muscles supporting and controlling the pharyngeal area is improved.

There may well be both structural and functional reasons why weight loss decreases the likelihood of airway collapse during sleep, but regardless of the mechanisms, the importance of weight loss cannot be overemphasized. Weight loss, like alcohol avoidance, can only be achieved with appropriate education of the patient and a degree of self discipline. Unfortunately there are no diets designed specifically to meet the needs of snorers. Weight loss will follow when fewer calories are ingested, which for most people means a reduction in sweet and fatty foods. Consultation with a dietician is strongly recommended.

*8/51/5*

Scarlet fever

In 1900 scarlet fever was so virulent that three out of every 100 children who caught it died. By 1973 there were only three deaths in 11,000 cases in the UK. Certainly children are better able to withstand the effects of the organism today but scientists are also sure that the organism itself has changed in some way.

Tuberculosis

In 185513 per cent of all deaths were caused by ÒÂ, and once again the young suffered most. ÒÂ is a classical example of a disease falling in the mortality league long before specific cures were available. Less overcrowding, better food, better personal hygiene and sanatorium treatment-all helped to reduce the illness and death from ÒÂ long before the drugs to cure it were discovered. Since the early 1950s, with mass X-rays, drugs and BCG vaccinations, there has been a rapid fall in the number of cases and deaths. New cases today are confined almost entirely to very old men and certain immigrants. But even today when the disease is virtually eradicated it causes the loss of 2.3 million working days a year in the UK. Just think what things were like a century ago!

Poliomyelitis

About thirty years ago polio reached its peak incidence. In 1947, 7,984 cases were recorded and 10 per cent of these died. Between 1952 and 1954 nearly another 1,000 died of the disease and many more were left paralysed. Today there are about 12,000 people in the UK suffering from the after-effects of polio.

The first vaccine was introduced in 1957. The result is that in the years 1972-4 only twenty-two cases of polio were reported in the UK and none died. But because not everywhere in the world has a similar record on this disease it still makes sense to be vaccinated before going abroad to certain countries.

Smallpox

Once the scourge of whole populations, this disease is now officially extinct in the world.

Maternal mortality

We have seen how the outlook has improved for babies and young children but so too has that of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth. A century ago maternal mortality in childbirth was at epidemic proportions, and even as recently as 1935 between forty and forty-five women died for every 10,000 pregnancies. This totalled about 2,500 women every year.

The establishment of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Midwives Act of 1936 helped raise professional standards, and the care of pregnant women and the confinement in hospitals under specialist care has reduced the maternal death figures to one in every 10,000 births. There are suggestions that even this can be improved upon.

The history of preventive medicine, then, is largely that of public health, but now the challenges are different. Certainly we have combated the infectious illnesses to the point where they no longer pose a fraction of the threat they once did, but today we face new threats from degenerative diseases such as cancers, stroke, and heart disease-the big single killer of Western man.

Can modern preventive medicine do tor these diseases what public health so successfully did for the infections? The problems today are fundamentally different. The last century’s illness epidemics were caused by poverty and shortage. This century’s are being caused by wealth and excess. No one much minds giving up poverty and shortage but persuading people to give up ‘the good life’ is much more difficult.

*8/72/5*

A debilitated person, one suffering from a chronic disease, is more likely to suffer from infections. Some of these have already been mentioned, such as the skin rashes that develop in hot, sweaty places that are not kept clean and the infection that can occur in the urinary tract, causing cystitis and frequently incontinence of urine. There are many other infections, the most important of which is probably pneumonia. There may well be little outward sign of pneumonia because many old people don’t have a rise in temperature or produce phlegm as younger people do when they develop the infection. It can only be diagnosed by a doctor’s careful examination. Often the only clue to the presence of any infection may be a worsening of the level of confusion. If this happens without there being an obvious cause, it is important to ask the doctor to come and assess the situation.

*91\138\2*

Some people with dementia are very unpleasant to those around them. They may accuse a spouse of trying to harm them, of stealing their belongings, of plotting against them, and so on. This type of behaviour is really very upsetting and often causes deep hurt. There is little one can do about it, as no amount of reasoning will make any long-term difference. In the short term, however, reassurance can sometimes be helpful, as the outburst may really be a means of saying ‘I don’t feel loved’ or ‘I am angry because I am frightened.’ If this kind of emotional insecurity is responsible, loving reassurance and a hug may well be the answer, but don’t feel rejected if this doesn’t work. There must be many other reasons for a reaction of this nature and the underlying cause is often not apparent.

Very often all that one can do is to try to ignore such comments and remember that they are not really the expression of a considered thought, but the results of brain damage. The sufferer is probably as upset and distressed about the situation as the person to whom the remarks are directed.

Above all, don’t try to react by justifying yourself or arguing. This could well result in a catastrophic reaction. If the situation has arisen because the sufferer has forgotten who a person is, even though they should know him quite well, and mistakes him for a stranger who, for instance, could be a thief, try to explain to the person or persons involved and at the same time reassure the sufferer.

If things get lost, it is very likely that they have either been put down in a strange place or that they have been deliberately hidden. You will soon learn about the favourite hiding-places. This will help you to recover things quickly when the sufferer begins to complain that they have disappeared and has forgotten that he or she has hidden them. If a lockable drawer or cupboard is the hiding-place have duplicate keys made or remove the existing key in case objects are locked away and the key in turn is hidden elsewhere or lost. It is also a good idea to keep objects such as jewellery, cash, legal documents, and so on, safely away from a demented person in case they too disappear.

*69\138\2*

There have been many studies of the inheritance patterns of Alzheimer’s disease in families. Some of these studies are more reliable than others; in many, the criteria upon which the diagnosis has been made have been rather loosely defined. The most important studies are those whose data is based on post-mortem confirmation of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies that rely on the correct diagnosis being made during life are less satisfactory, not being backed up by pathological confirmation. In the best centres the diagnosis is probably only made with an accuracy of around 80 per cent, and in some it is no better than 50 per cent.

The results of many of the studies that have been undertaken are conflicting. There is, however, little doubt that in some families, where the disease strikes predominantly younger people, there is a very strong hereditary factor. Whether or not a person develops the disease is dependent upon the genetic material that is present within the cells of the body. This genetic material is divided up into small sub-units called genes; the more powerful genes are described as dominant and the less powerful ones as recessive. Even if the Alzheimer’s disease is controlled by a dominant gene in a family with a strong pattern of the illness, the risk of a child of an affected individual developing this type of dementia is less than 50 per cent. In many cases it is considerably less than this and once the gene becomes diluted even further, to grandchildren, nephews and nieces, etc., the risks are even smaller.

In most instances the disease is not caused by a single dominant gene. In practical terms this means that someone who is a member of a family in which several people have suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, even if the onset was before the age of sixty-five, faces a risk of developing the condition almost certainly less than 50 per cent, maybe very much less.

In most cases of Alzheimer’s disease it is very probable that heredity doesn’t play any part at all. If the family history contains only a single older person who has had this diagnosis made, there is virtually no increased risk for others in the family.

The risk is further diminished if it turns out to be true that it is not the inheritance of the gene itself that matters, but whether the gene makes us more sensitive to outside agents. An example of this is the relationship between smoking and lung cancer. We all know of people who smoke sixty cigarettes a day and yet manage to survive into their nineties without developing cancer. On the other hand we know also of other smokers who succumbed to lung cancer in their fifties or sixties. It is possible that within the genetic make-up of all of us, our genes determine how sensitive we are to the action of the chemicals in tobacco smoke. If we inherit a gene that makes us very sensitive, then we are more likely to develop lung cancer than another person who has inherited a gene that makes him resistant to the chemicals in cigarettes.

It could well be the same with Alzheimer’s disease, and for that matter the other dementias. Whether we do or do not develop the condition may depend not just upon the inheritance of a particular gene, but whether we are also exposed to something which that gene makes us particularly sensitive to. This external agent could be anything from the chemicals that we put in our food or spray on our crops to a particular virus or the way in which we react to a particular virus.

My own feeling is that the increased risk of a person developing Alzheimer’s disease is very small if the only member of the family with this diagnosis is an elderly grandparent. If two grandparents have been affected the risk rises but is not of undue concern. On the other hand, if three or four members of the family have developed the disease before the age of sixty-five there is indeed a significant risk of other members of the family being affected. The odds are, however, still likely to be better than 50 per cent in favour of any individual not contracting the condition.

It is possible that in some families a single dominant gene may be responsible for Alzheimer’s, but in most cases, if there is a genetic basis at all, it will more likely result from the interplay of several genes or the interaction between a person’s genetic makeup and other factors in the environment.

*47\138\2*