Tobacco, alcohol may speed disease

People who are on a path to develop Alzheimer's disease may hasten its arrival if they drink or smoke too much, researchers say.

The researchers looked at the most common form of the illness, late-onset Alzheimer's, which doctors believe may be touched off by a variety of factors, separately or together.

For this study, presented at a recent conference of the American Academy of Neurology, the researchers looked at three possible contributors: alcohol, tobacco and a gene called APOE. The researchers examined over 900 people considered to have possible or probable Alzheimer's, asking family about their smoking and drinking histories and testing them for the gene.

They found that people reported to have had more than two drinks a day developed the disease almost five years earlier than lighter drinkers, on average. Heavy smokers got it 2.3 years earlier. The APOE gene was associated with an onset about three years earlier.

There are a number of explanations for what may be happening, said one of the researchers, Dr. Ranjan Duara of the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla. Duara said smoking on its own had two effects that could contribute to Alzheimer's. One is its role in cardiovascular disease. The other is a link with oxidative stress, an increase in damaging free radicals in the body. -- Press Democrat news services