Want a Large Family ? There May be an Increased Risk of Alzheimer's in Women

  According to researchers in South Korea, women who have given birth to more than five children have a much higher risk of having Alzheimer's disease compared to those with fewer children or no children.
  Women who had five or more complete pregnancies demonstrated a 1.7-fold greater risk of AD than those that completed one to four completed pregnancies or no completed pregnancies.
  High levels of estrogen during pregnancy and the abrupt withdrawal of estrogen after childbirth may be harmful to neurons and decrease cognitive reserve.
  Based on this result, researchers are planning to develop pulse hormone replacement therapy that can induce similar hormonal changes to those in the first trimester of pregnancy to evaluate it's effectiveness in reducing the risk of Alzheimer's in women.
  This reviewer does not advocate having fewer or no children as a consequence of this study.
Neurology 2018 Epub July 18

Treat Hypertension Mid-life to Preserve Late-life Brain Function

  According to a review of the literature by a panel of experts, treatment of hypertension in mid-life preserves late-life cognitive function.
  Hypertension disrupts the function and structure of cerebral blood vessels which leads to ischemic damage (as a result of decreased blood flow to brain cell's) of white matter regions critical for cognitive function and may promote Alzheimer pathology.
Hypertension Oct 10 2016
  As previously reported, treatment of elevated blood pressure in the oldest of the old should be more conservative than treatment of younger patients.

Experimental Trials for Alzheimer's

   Experimental trials worth mentioning include but are not exclusively : 
1. Infusion therapies to recruit the immune system : solanezumab, aducanumab.
2. To prevent destruction of brain connections : saracatinib which  turns off Fyn, a brain protein which when over-activated triggers destruction of connections between brain cells ( ie. synapses). 
3. Beta-amyloid production blockers such as beta- and gamma- secretase inhibitors. 
4. Tau aggregation inhibitors and tau vaccines to prevent tau from forming the tangles seen in Alzheimer's. 
5. Reduce chronic, low-level inflammation eg. pioglitazone (Actos). 
6. Insulin nasal spray to alter insulin changes in Alzheimer brains. 
7. Modulating known risk factors eg. hypertension, diabetes, stroke, high cholesterol and heart disease. 
8. Estrogen-based hormone therapy to protect women with a higher risk of Alzheimer's.