Dementia is often a terrifying subject to consider. A lot of people know of stories where someone who was perceived to be brilliant has wasted away into nothing because they can no longer function properly. Everyone has this little worry about dementia and other such degenerative forms of diseases that have affected so many.
It in this fervor of fear and misunderstanding that has prompted people tend to scour the web for information on how they can wholly avoid or at least, lower their risk for dementia. There have been a number of misconceptions about dementia that have been going around and we wanted to take this time to dispel these misconception.
Misconceptions like:
“Aluminum Causes Dementia”
Aluminum can be found pretty much everywhere in our day to day lives. This is because aluminum is one of the easiest metals to obtain and utilize. We have aluminum pots, pans, and other forms of kitchenware. Aluminum is also present in other parts of the home. We even use them for jewelry at times.
So you can imagine the absolute fear that people who regularly come into contact with aluminum felt when reports that aluminum causes dementia. Before you start purging your life of aluminum, we want to emphasis that aluminum does not cause dementia. In fact, we don’t really know what causes it. So whoever started to rumor the aluminum raises your chances of having dementia, they were probably doing it to alarm people.
“Dementia Is Genetic”
A constant fear of family members of people who have been diagnosed with dementia and other neurodegenerative disease is that they will get it too. There have been reports going around the web that such disorders are indeed genetic.
However, that is a big fat lie. Dementia is not genetic. We emphasize the point that we do not know what causes it. Every recorded case is different and there have been no common denominators in the cases of people who have been diagnosed with dementia.
“Wine Saves You from Dementia”
This one certainly brought a little smug smile from the people who loved to imbibe copious amounts of wine. For a while, people wholly believed that wine would save them from dementia. This is hardly the case. While small amounts of wine have been purported to boost the memory of those who imbibe it, there is no actual evidence to support this claim.
A common belief is that this rumor was started by those who have profit at stake in the wine industry. If people wholly believe that wine can save them from so many ills, people will keep buying them.
To Conclude
Misinformation is not anything new. What is sad is that we live in an age where information has never been made more accessible. What people need to develop is a set of cognitive parameters to determine the veracity of a certain piece of information. We need to be able to wholly disseminate which is true and which is false. Those that know better need to be able to spread the word.
What misconception about dementia have you heard about?
