The research is in and now we know that Alzheimer's disease may not be one that begins in later life, in old age. It may have its roots in the brains of infants.

Medical science has always pointed toward what we call plaques and tangles in the older brain as being the hallmark of the dreaded, personality-robbing disease we fear. But new research is pointing to a new culprit and it's something all of us contribute to, pollution.

The science surrounding Alzheimer's is intensifying as we near what we perceive as a silver tsunami where millions affected with the disorder will need years of advanced care. As the disease progresses, it destroys our ability to engage in word-find ability. That is, we can't remember simple words or tasks we did so easily every day. We find it difficult to concentrate and gradually, toward the end, we forget how to feed ourselves. There is no cure, and it is a death spiral that, seemingly, begins in infancy.

I have worked in a major Alzheimer's clinical trial. During one session where I was observing a woman being tested for her memory, I saw something remarkable. The woman took off her eyeglasses and couldn't remember how to put them back on. Her family said that at dinnertime, she didn't know how to use utensils and tried to eat a fork. It was truly disturbing.

If she left her apartment and went out into the hallway, she couldn't remember how to get back into her home, nor which one was her's. Once, she wandered into the stairwell in her building and didn't know what to do.

They locked all the doors in the stairwell from the outside, so even if she tried one, it wouldn't open. For two hours, she remained in the stairwell as her family frantically searched for her. Fortunately, one man thought of the stairwell and found her there, frightened and terrified that she was in a strange building.

She pulled back from the man because she thought he was going to harm her. In fact, he was a neighbor she'd known for years.

But Alzheimer's isn't a disease of the aged. Research from Mexico City has showed that children as young as 11-months-old show the characteristic plaque brain destruction. Other children, in their pre-teen years, have also had these plaques in their brains. What could have caused them?

The culprit appears to be air pollution, and other researchers around the world with different populations have found a troubling connection. Anyone who lived near a highway or in a heavily polluted city was more likely to experience dementia than those who didn't live in the same circumstances. Air pollution is now one of the prime elements not only of climate change but brain changes that are catastrophic.

How do we solve the problem? Clean up the air, the water, and eliminate plastic waste. The price we pay for not doing this is the health of our children beginning in their infancy.

https://medium.com/@drpatfarrell