Younger people don't worry about Alzheimer's. Here's why they should

When it comes to Alzheimer's disease, there's good news and there's bad news.

The good news is that if you're in your 70s, your risk of developing Alzheimer's is actually lower than it was a decade or two ago.

But here's the bad news. For younger people, the unhealthy habits they're indulging in today could give them a greater risk for dementia down the road than their grandparents face today.

Brain health, after all, is a lifelong pursuit.

"Good brain health begins in the earliest stage of childhood and has to be addressed throughout our entire lifespan," says Dr. William Reichman, president and CEO of Baycrest Health Sciences.

Unfortunately, most people come late to that message -- sometimes, too late.

An estimated 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. And even those who don't have it live in dread of it. Opinion polls show that dementia has emerged as the No. 1 concern among older adults.

"Most of the people who are interested in, 'How I can keep my brain healthy?' are aging Baby Boomers because they've seen this (dementia) in their parents and grandparents," Reichman says. "This generation is more aware and more concerned about Alzheimer's disease than prior generations."

Yet it's future generations that Reichman is thinking about these days. His Toronto-based institution is waging a campaign to make younger people aware of the importance of adopting a brain-healthy lifestyle early on and continuing that into middle age. That effort includes the third annual Brain Project, an installation of brain-inspired public artwork created by celebrities and artists.

The awareness campaign comes at a time of growing concern that teenagers, young adults and people in middle age are slipping into unhealthy habits that could make them prime candidates for dementia in their 60s and 70s.

Junk food. Fast food. Obesity. Way too much time sitting sedentary in front of a computer screen. Lack of sleep. The high-stress, hurried pace of life these days.

All of these can have a pernicious effect on cognition over the course of a lifetime, and could threaten the gains we've made against Alzheimer's in recent decades.

Major studies in the United States and Europe show that older adults are less likely to develop Alzheimer's today than in past decades.

"The risk for a 75-year old to get Alzheimer's today is lower than it used to be," Reichman says. "However, now that we're seeing more mid-life and child obesity, some of those gains may be reversed. Encouraging younger people to be physically active, (avoid) processed food -- all of those need to be addressed through public awareness campaigns."

Reichman has been preaching that for years, and long-time newspaper readers in New Jersey may remember his name and his message. He wrote a brain health column for The Star-Ledger in 2000 and 2001. At that time, he was director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

Reichman went on to serve as president of the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group before leaving New Jersey in 2007 to become president and CEO at Baycrest, a research and teaching hospital in Toronto that specializes in Alzheimer's, dementia and other cognitive age-related diseases.

Baycrest is observing its centennial this year, and is using that milestone as an opportunity to talk about its research and programs, including a campaign to educate younger people about the importance of getting an early start on brain healthy behaviors.

I asked Reichman, a parent of two grown children, what the message was to his son and daughter as they were growing up.

"I've tried to encourage my children to remain physically active and not develop a sedentary lifestyle," he says. "Physical activity and keeping weight down are very important."

He said he's also encouraged them to develop creative interests in the arts or music, because of growing evidence that can contribute to better cognition in later life. "There also is evidence that people who learn several languages in early life can be conferred some protective benefit," he adds.

Reichman urged his children not to smoke, and has reservations these days about the legalization of marijuana. "I think parents should be concerned about it," he says. "Without more evidence, it's not a very safe thing to do for young people."

Nutrition is a concern as well, as surveys indicated parents are preparing less home-cooked meals and children and teens are bombarded with ads for fast food and processed food. There are strong links between the standard American diet and the risk of dementia in later life.

"Aside from whatever the deleterious effects are of overly processed food on glucose regulation and brain function, when they eat a lot of fast food, they're not eating enough healthy things," Reichman says. "It's really important to focus on diet; the most compelling evidence is for a Mediterranean-type diet."

The Mediterranean Diet calls for less red meat, processed food and sugary snacks, and more fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, legumes and whole grains.

Telling young people to "eat your vegetables" is not necessarily a popular message. But there are other ways to get the younger generation thinking about brain health, and Baycrest has found that public art is one such avenue.

Every summer, Baycrest invites artists from around the world to create brain-inspired sculptures, which are put on display in more than a dozen locations around downtown Toronto. The effort is officially known as the Yogen Fruz Pinkberry Brain Project, and the artwork is sponsored by corporations and philanthropists.

Reichman says the project helps create a conversation around brain health and dementia with a population that typically doesn't give much thought to those subjects. "Young people don't want to think about this because it seems so far in the future," he says.

But that can change when you put the human brain on a pedestal -- literally. When young people see these public sculptures, it stimulates discussion, Reichman says.

"Each of the artists interprets the issues of brain health and Alzheimer's in a different way, to it leads to a very eclectic conversation," he says.

"There's something about the art installation that engages people and gets them to think. It's evocative. The visual presentations capture their imagination and the narratives gets them thinking about what this means to them, their family and their community."

Tony Dearing may be reached at tdearing@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyDearing. Find NJ.com on Facebook.