In this presentation, Dr. David Perlmutter highlights the massive economic burden of dementia in the United States, citing a RAND Corporation study (data from 2010, published 2013 in the New England Journal of Medicine) that estimates a 14.7% prevalence among Americans over 70, costing roughly $50,000 per patient annually and about $200 billion nationwide—far exceeding expenditures for heart disease ($100 billion) and cancer ($77 billion). He then discusses a Neurology journal study linking even mildly elevated fasting glucose to reduced functional activity in Alzheimer‑related brain regions (parietal and temporal lobes), suggesting high serum glucose is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s independent of genetics. Concluding that dementia’s financial and emotional toll can be mitigated, he advocates controlling blood sugar through dietary changes: reducing carbohydrate intake, eliminating added sugars, and increasing healthy fats to support brain metabolism.
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It looks like we've underestimated the monetary cost of dementia, really the impact of dementia on our society. People seem to be focused on various forms of cancer and certainly focused on heart disease, but it turns out that at least from a monetary perspective, we're spending far more on dealing with dementia than those other 2 categories. And this was recently looked at And published last year, 2013, in the New England Journal of Medicine. Let's take a look at the report. This is a summary from a study actually carried out during the year 2010, published in 2013, a study carried out by the RAND Corporation that found that the prevalence of dementia in America is about 14.7% of the population over age 70 years, making it basically an epidemic. And that we're spending around $50,000 each year to care for demented patients, around $200 billion in America to deal with dementia. Now that compares to heart disease, which is about half that number, $100 billion, and care of cancer patients, about $77 billion, or about a third of what we're spending on dementia. So I think it's very important in this day and age when we Do not have any pharmaceutical treatment for dementia, to take a step back and look at what might be causing this epidemic. And it turns out that blood sugar is playing a very important role, and even the metabolism of the brain in, in the areas that are related to Alzheimer's, in terms of their utilization of blood sugar, is really very important. Let's have a look at another study. This is a study published in the journal Neurology, and it looked at the ability of the brain to function in comparison to fasting blood sugar. And what it found was when looking at particular areas of the brain that are involved with Alzheimer's, like the parietal lobe, for example, and the temporal regions, that these areas functioned much worse when blood sugar was even mildly elevated. This is a very dramatic graph showing decreased function of critical brain areas happening just because the blood sugar is elevated. And what the authors concluded was, and I quote, this study provides additional evidence for the relationship between high fasting serum glucose levels and the predisposition to Alzheimer's disease. It suggests that in cognitively normal older adults, Without a history of diabetes, higher serum glucose levels may be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease that may be unrelated to certain genetic types of predispositions. This is very clear evidence that dementia, which I began this video by telling you is costing us $200 billion a year, not to mention the emotional toll, is related We control our blood sugar based upon the foods that we choose to consume. And that's why we're all over the notion of lowering your carbohydrates and keeping sugars off the plate. Eat more fat, it's good for your brain. I'm Dr. David Perlmutter.
