Latest News from Everycare
The main risk factor for both cancer and dementia is age. Most people with dementia are over 65 years old. About half of people diagnosed with cancer are over 70 years old.
Each year, about 352,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer and about 850,000 people are living with dementia. Many people with dementia also have several other health conditions, including cancer.
Many people with dementia are cared for at home by a family member or friend. In the UK, there are about 670,000 carers of people with dementia.
For more information on caring for a person with cancer or dementia visit the Dementia UK website.
Daffodils grown by a Welsh sheep farmer could be used to help more than 225,000 patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Kevin Stephens’ flowers produce unusually high amounts of galantamine, which can slow down the progress of the devastating disease.
Scientists believe the daffodils, grown in the Black Mountains in Wales, have more of it due to the stress they are placed under having to endure harsh winters at 1,200ft.
The unfavourable conditions cause them to flower much later than regular species, which produce very little quantities of the chemical.
Mr Stephens, 51, has spent six years developing a method of growing and harvesting the daffodils to extract galantamine for use in Alzheimer’s drugs.
A man has told of how he “got his mum back” after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, in part, by getting her to follow a diet high in berries and leafy green vegetables.
But how realistic is it that dementia can be tackled through diet?
The bulk of the research had been on the preventative side rather than treating Alzheimer’s.
Mark Hatzer’s mum Sylvia was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in December 2016 and it progressed fast, so that at its worst she forgot who he was.
Mark said after a change in her diet and daily activities, her condition improved.
“I slowly got my mum back. Her memory is improving all the time. She is more alert and engaged. She is basically her old self again,” he wrote in a blog.
So what did Sylvia’s diet entail? Checjk out the full story on the BBC website.
