Walking — and other exercise — can benefit the brain. Walking improves blood flow to the brain, it protects blood vessels, it reduces the risk of things that could be bad for the brain, like hypertension, obesity and stroke — so at the end of the day, pretty much any form of aerobic physical activity would probably have similar effects. It's cheap and it's much better than picking drugs that have side-effects, and it probably has many good effects, whether it's related to your brain health or not.

Conventional wisdom has drawn a blank, so researchers are pursuing other ways to attack Alzheimer'sIt was a small study, a strange one too, if you came to it cold - 109 people in the early throes of Alzheimer's disease squirted insulin up their noses for four months.

Mrs. S, born in 1913, was brought in by her husband in September 1989. He was very worried about her failing memory and poor balance which he had noted for about six months. The year before that she had lost 20 pounds. This he ascribed to poor dentures so that she could not chew even though she had a good appetite and was hungry. She was able to run her household and to do crossword puzzles. Because of her poor balance she had fallen several times.

In this issue we feature a major report on Alzheimer’s Disease by Professor Harold D. Foster. This conforms to our tradition, which now spans over thirty years, of allowing scientists to examine a topic in great depth so that our readers can grasp its significance without having to refer back to other articles. For the research investigator the extensive references provide him or her with an unparalleled opportunity to start their own studies into this dread and rapidly growing disease.

After reading Smart Nutrients, (a book co-authored by A. Hoffer), I was impelled to write to him and relate a story to him. In my letter, I briefly described the story of my mother-in-law, V, and her identical twin sister M. I felt that V had benefited greatly from a supplement program on which I had put her following her twin’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s. V is an alert lady of 88 years, M, her identical twin, died at the age of 70 from the affects of Alzheimer’s disease. To me, this was unusual.