Diet may cut risk of memory loss.

BYLINE: LIONEL OPIE

JEREMY LAURENCE, of the Independent in London, writes (Review, November 7), "Can I do anything to prevent Alzheimer's disease? Wear a nicotine patch. Studies have shown that nicotine can help prevent Alzheimer's."

As cardiologists know that nicotine can damage arteries, this proposed benefit is unexpected. The problem is that the arguments for a nicotine patch poorly reflect current knowledge. Both human and animal studies have been contradictory. The background is that full-blown Alzheimer's disease is a somewhat uncommon condition in which loss of memory and cognitive function are sufficiently severe to significantly limit normal social exchange and activity.

Alzheimer's disease is characterised by two abnormalities that occur in the tissue of the brain, namely, typical solid-looking plaques of congealed protein (technically called amyloid-beta deposits) and, …