早年贪吃 晚年白痴

It's most people's biggest health fear. But whether you get dementia, scientists now believe, is mostly a matter of lifestyle; it hinges on what you eat every single day. Here's a guide to making the choices that will preserve a healthy mind—starting right now! 痴呆症是人们十分惧怕的疾病。不管你是否有痴呆，科学家们认为，它的出现与人的生活方式紧密相关；它取决于我们每天吃什么。早年选择合理饮食，有利于保护我们健康大脑，避免大脑受损。我们应该予以重视了！

When it comes to aging, life can be cruel. There's plenty to...well...let's come right out and say it: think about. What will happen to my looks? What will happen to my body? 许多人步入老年之后，随着年龄增加，生活会遇到各种不便、困难与痛苦。如何应对这些变化，有许多事情值得我们思考。如何看待这个问题？首先我们得从注意自己身体变化做起。

Will I still be able to pursue my interests? What will happen to my mind? 生活能不能有自己嗜好？每天饮食对我们大脑会有什么影响？

That last question is now the second leading health concern (after cancer) among adults in at least four Western countries—France, Germany, and Spain, as well as the United States—according to a recent survey by the Harvard University School of Public Health and the Alzheimer Europe consortium. Fear of developing dementia would likely stir even more concern if Americans didn't mistakenly believe a cure for Alzheimer's disease exists (more than 45 percent of U.S. respondents think there is an effective treatment). Despite the lack of a cure, great progress has been made in the past three decades in understanding the disease. 哈佛大学公共卫生学院和欧洲阿尔茨海默疾病联盟最近一份调查称，大脑痴呆症已成为仅次于癌症第二大健康问题，在西方国家如法国、德国、西班牙和美国等的成年人中尤其如此。美国人对痴呆症的担忧引发的焦虑，似乎对老年痴呆症治疗丧失了信心：问卷调查发现，只有百分之四十五多美国人认为，老年痴呆症有希望找到医治方法。虽然治愈目前尚无取得成功，但三十年来对该病的理解已取得巨大进步。

The most common cause of dementia, or severe cognitive decline, and the sixth leading cause of death in the U. S., Alzheimer's disease is marked by difficulty storing new memories and recalling recent events, loss of ability to track day-to-day information, a disrupted sense of time and space, social withdrawal, irritability, and mood swings. The neurodegenerative condition typically manifests after age 60. Life expectancy in the U.S. is currently about 78 years and rising. The 5.4 million Americans who suffer from the illness include 13 percent of those over age 65. 据调查，老年痴呆症已成为美国第六大杀手。痴呆症最常见症状是，认知能力急速下降，存储记忆困难，难以回忆发生事情，不能跟踪记住发生信息，没有时间与空间感觉，离群孤僻，个性暴躁和情绪极端不稳。特别是年龄超过60岁之后，这种神经衰退症状尤其突出。美国现在人口平均寿命大约为78岁，并有增加趋势。但是，美国患有痴呆症病的人数却有540万，其中有13%的痴呆病人年龄超过65岁；中国老年痴呆的患者数也呈显著上升趋势，据统计，目前患者总数约有600万，10%的病人年龄超过65岁。