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Some people show the cellular signs of dementia without being demented
Jump to full article: The Economist, 2008-04-17
Intro: A paper presented at the American Academy of Neurology's Annual Meeting in Chicago this week may cast some light on this mystery—and perhaps how to slow down the disease's progress. Deniz Erten-Lyons, who works at Oregon Health and Science University, in Portland, and her colleagues think they have found a consistent feature of the brains of those who have the internal stigmata of Alzheimer's disease without suffering the outward manifestations: their brains are larger. In particular, their hippocampuses are about 10% bigger than average.
On a day when every other news outlet covering the American Academy of Neurology's Annual Meeting reported on the research that drinking and smoking are two of the most important preventable risk factors for Alzheimer's--The Economist opts for the "big brain" aspect.
Typical. The Economist is known for dismissing the health effects of tobacco use, as well as any attempt to mitigate those harms. Some have excused The Economist because, after all, it's primarily oriented towards finance, not health.
Yet The Economist publishes this, and other health items, and none of them--none-- inform about the health effects of smoking. Your big brain article frets about science's inability to slow the progress of Alzheimer's. Other, more responsible news outlets covering the same meeting quoted Dr Ranjan Duara on the subject: "It's possible that if we can reduce or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could substantially delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease."
Reading the Economist, who would know?
Many people have only one major source of news. The Economist does its readers a grave and terrible disservice.
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