NEWS

Alzheimer’s hits 105,000 Greeks

Over 150,000 Greeks suffer from senility, some 70 percent of whom suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, doctors said yesterday on the occasion of World Alzheimer’s Day. According to Thessaloniki University Assistant Professor of Neurology Magda Tsolaki, the main danger factors for Alzheimer’s, the most common form of senility, are advanced age and heredity. But diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking and obesity serve to increase the threat, while retirees who give up their social activities and fail to occupy themselves with some hobby also face an increased risk, she said. A vegetarian diet, foods with a low fat content and fish help reduce the threat, while another good preventive measure is regular physical and mental exercise. According to the head of the Athens Alzheimer’s Society, Paraskevi Sakka, the pathological process that leads to senility starts some 30 years before the first symptoms appear.

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