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4A Daily News – Tuesday, May 7, 2013 Vitality health & fitness Registry to help prevent Alzheimer's By Gracie Bonds Staples The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (MCT) ATLANTA — Ann Powell entered her name, birth date, gender, ethnicity, email address on a website and answered five questions about whether she had a family history or been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. In less than five minutes, the Buckhead, Atlanta, real estate manager had become one of thousands of people who could participate in studies as part of the Alzheimer's Prevention Registry. The registry, launched in May, is part of a collaborative effort between the Banner Alzheimer's Institute and scientists across the world to conduct cutting edge research in Alzheimer's prevention. Both Powell's parents and mother-in-law died within years of each other of the debilitating disease. She was reading a magazine article last year when she discovered the registry. "I was thrilled," Powell said. "I know that prevention is the only hope for all those at risk of getting Alzheimer's. I looked them up online the next day and registered." Jessica Langbaum, a scientist and associate director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative, is hoping 250,000 more will do the same, 100,000 of those by the end of June. The registry, she said, is an easy way for people who've been affected by the disease to get involved. "They become part of a community that gets the latest news on Alzheimer's prevention and, as study opportunities become available, they can find out how to get involved if they want to," Langbaum said. "This model has been done for breast cancer really well. They are able to fill a research study that used to take a year to recruit for in a month now. "We need the same thing for Alzheimer's disease research and it's a tool for researchers across the country. We don't anticipate everybody will want to participate in studies, but there is power in numbers." In general, it can take as many as 30,000 applicants to fill a 2,000-person trial, Langbaum said. That can delay research for up to two Addicted to added sugar? It's 13 percent of calories consumed by Americans By Karen Kaplan Los Angeles Times (MCT) MCT photo Ann Powell holds a portrait of her parents Stuart and Harriet Stapleford, April 28 in her Buckhead home where she grew up them. Powell entered her name, birth date, gender, ethnicity, e-mail address and answered five questions about whether she had a family history or been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. years. As detection outpaces treatment, that has become untenable, she said. Alzheimer's, one of the top 10 causes of death, has no cure. Now that it is clear the disease can start wreaking havoc in the brain years before symptoms appear, Langbaum said it's critical that prevention become the focus of any research. "We've held for a very long time that we have to find a prevention therapy for the disease," she said. "The numbers are skyrocketing, so we have to be able to conduct these trials in a faster, more efficient way." To do that, she said, recruiting people who are at high risk of developing Alzheimer's, like Powell, is critical. Langbaum said that Banner has been carefully planning for this initiative for years, but it wasn't until the fall of 2009 that the team invited their academic and industry colleagues to a gathering to discuss how to conduct prevention-treatment trials. Last May, Banner received a $16 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to conduct its first trial in people RANDAL S. ELLOWAY DDS IMPLANT DENTISTRY 2426 SO. 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Have you ever been embarrassed by a denture or a bridge? If you answered "yes" to one or more of these questions, call us today at (530) 527-6777 to schedule an evaluation appointment. We would be pleased to evaluate your oral health and discuss treatment options with you. destined to develop Alzheimer's because they carry rare genetic mutations for the disease. Details of the study _ designed to look at whether the drug, crenezumab, can prevent memory loss _ are still being worked out. But, Langbaum said, the first participants will be enrolled in the second half of 2013. The study may take up to five years to complete. The Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative is planning other studies in the coming years focused on other atrisk groups, and other research groups are planning complementary studies. "We call this the new era in Alzheimer's prevention research," Langbaum said. For years, Ann Powell has lived with the fear that she might one day be diagnosed with Alzheimer's. But this, she said, gives her hope. "If great strides aren't made in prevention efforts, I believe this will turn into an epidemic, not only devastating thousands of families, but probably eventually crippling the health-care system," Powell said. "On a personal note, I truly don't want my one son to be subjected to watching me deteriorate in front of him." Powell said she first noticed something was wrong with her mother, Harriet Arrington Staple- ford, in 1993 as they prepared for Powell's wedding day. Stapleford was always in control and organized, but now she could barely handle the simplest task. When she finally saw a neurologist, Powell said, the family got a dual shock. Not only did the doctor believe her mother had Alzheimer's, he held the same concern for her father, Stuart Stapleford. "In 18 months, my mother went from trying to teach (her caregiver) to speak French, to not talking or walking, and being confined to a wheelchair," Powell said. "She died on September 17, 2000." Less than two years later, her mother-in-law, Janet Powell, also died from the disease. By 2005, her father had begun his downward spiral. "He faded gradually until he did not know my son or my husband," Powell said. "He did not know me the last two or three years of his life. In contrast to my mother, his progress was slow and hard. Both of their deaths were a blessing." In signing up for the registry, Powell hopes she can avoid the same fate and her son won't have to watch her deteriorate the way she had to watch her own parents. "I will do anything I can to participate in the fight against Alzheimer's," she said. Sugar. Honey. Maple syrup. Molasses. High fructose corn syrup. All of these are "added sugars," and you are probably eating — and drinking — too much of them. So says the latest report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Researchers at the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics examined survey data from thousands of American adults to figure out whether we're following the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. These guidelines advise us to limit our total intake of added sugars, fats and other "discretionary calories" to between 5 percent and 15 percent of total calories consumed every day. It should come as no surprise that Americans as a whole are blowing past the 15 percent limit. In fact, the new report finds that from 2005 to 2010 we got 13 percent of our total calories from added sugar alone, according to the CDC report. This is a problem not just because sugar is full of calories that cause us to gain weight, but because sugary items often displace fruits, vegetables and other foods that contain essential nutrients. Overall, men consumed more sugar per day (an average of 335 calories) than women (239), the researchers found. But as a percentage of total calories consumed per day, men and women were pretty even — 12.7 percent vs. 13.2 percent. Adults tended to eat the most sugar in their 20s and 30s, with consumption falling steadily over time. For instance, men between 20 and 39 ate and drank 397 calories of added sugar per day, on average, while men in their 40s and 50s consumed an average of 338 such calories per day and men in the 60+ crowd consumed 224 calories of added sugar daily. For women, the daily consumption peaked at 275 calories in the 20-39 age group before falling to 236 calories for those 40 to 59 and a mere 182 calories for those 60 and older. For both men and women, added sugar's contribution to total calories fell steadily from the 14 percent range to the 11 percent range. African Americans got more of their calories from added sugars — 14.5 percent for men and 15.2 percent for women — than whites (12.8 percent for men, 13.2 percent for women) or Mexican Americans (12.9 percent for men, 12.6 percent for women). The differences between whites and Mexican Americans were not statistically significant. The researchers also discovered that the poorer people were, the bigger the role that added sugars played in their diets. Women in the lowest income category got 15.7 percent of their calories from sugar, compared with 13.4 percent for women in the middle income category and 11.6 percent for women with the highest incomes. For men, the corresponding figures were 14.1 percent, 13.6 percent and 11.5 percent. Although sugar-sweetened soda is the single biggest source of added sugars in the American diet, beverages overall accounted for only one-third of added sugars consumed by adults, compared with two-thirds from food. In addition, about 67 percent of added sugars from food were eaten at home, along with 58 percent of added sugars from drinks. The researchers noted some differences between their findings for adults and what other studies have reported about children and teens. For example, the contribution of added sugars to total daily calories was comparable for black and white children and lower for Mexican-American children. And, children and teens of all income levels get the same proportion of daily calories from added sugars. Added sugars do not include the sugars that occur naturally in fruit and milk. As the name implies, added sugars are used as ingredients in prepared and processed foods and drinks. For the sake of the analysis, other forms of added sugar included brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, malt syrup, pancake syrup, fructose sweetener, liquid fructose, anhydrous dextrose, crystal dextrose and dextrin. www.redbluff.mercy.org redbluff.mercy.org Need a little guidance & motivation? Experience Premium Group Fitness C O U P O N Class Pass C Must present coupon N O Pass Valid through May 2013 U Go to www.tehamafamilyfitness.com P O for current class schedule We Offer 100 group training classes per week! Free to members! Starting in May..: Kick Boxing Unleashed and Drums Alive! Tone Zone - Aqua Aerobics - Yoga - Hybrid - Kettlebell - Pilates - Spin - Kids Fit - Circuit Training - Zumba - Silver Sneakers & More! 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