HU studying whether exercise fights Alzheimer's

WASHINGTON - It is a desperate sense of frustration and helplessness faced by more than 11 million Americans daily.Elderly adults who have lost their memory to the dreaded disease cannot remember who or where they are. Their own children and other relatives have become complete strangers - sometimes frighteningly so. Theirs is a world of confusion and often fear.

Meanwhile, their children and relatives are left the painful task of tending to loved ones who daily disappear inch by inch, piece by piece, behind a dark veil of lost memory.

Soon, they are no longer able to manage their own bodily functions. That chore then falls to sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, grand children. They are all - the elderly and their families - victims of Alzheimer's disease.

This devastating disease strikes someone in America every 70 seconds and is the cause of 75 percent of all memory loss in adults. Treating it triples health care costs for Americans 65 and older and costs the nation more than $148 billion each year.

But what if that memory loss that is at the core of the illness could be reversed, or at the least slowed, by something as simple as jogging, swimming, riding a bicycle or a daily walk in the local shopping mall?

That is what Alzheimer's specialist Dr. Thomas Obisesan of Howard University College of Medicine believes, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), one of the world's foremost medical research centers, thinks he may be onto something.

Consequently, NIH has backed a $2-million, two-year study by Obisesan to see if his theory is correct.

Obisesan, professor of medicine, adjunct professor of neurology, chief of the Division of Geriatrics and associate director of the General Clinical Research Center at Howard University College of Medicine, developed his hypothesis after evaluating data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

After studying statistics of thousands of elderly adults, Obisesan found "very significant" evidence that those who involved aerobic exercise such as walking, jogging, swimming, dancing or bicycling had better memories than those who didn't. "There was substantial evidence that those who exercised had better memory retention," he said.

The evidence was so significant that Obisesan was invited to present his findings at the International Conference on Alzheimer's disease in May before more than 10,000 medical professionals gathered in Vienna, Austria to discuss the latest research and findings on the disease.

During his research, Obisesan will be comparing two groups of with mild Alzheimer's disease, those involved in aerobic exercise and another group that will be involved in stretching exercises.

He and his team will also be running tests on 74 patients to determine how the brain uses glucose, and they will be looking for proteins in the spinal fluid that are related to the disease.

Aerobic exercise may increase memory retention by reducing or eliminating cardiovascular problems, Obisesan said.

"There is evidence that cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, hypertension, lipids and obesity can contribute to Alzheimer's disease," he said. He said he is confident his study will support his theory.

And the rest of the medical community? "Everybody is on the edge of their seats to find out what will be the results," he said.