There was no Alzheimer’s disease in ancient Greece or Rome!
Because…
Vita gazette – An analysis of classical Greek and Roman medical texts has unveiled a startling revelation: severe memory loss was virtually non-existent 2,000 to 2,500 years ago, during the era of Aristotle, Galen and Pliny the Elder.
New research suggests that adopting healthier preindustrial lifestyles could potentially hold the key to preventing Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The scarcity of severe memory loss in medical texts from 2,500 years ago implies that our current epidemic of dementia is essentially a product of our modern environments and lifestyles, as revealed by a new USC analysis. According to the research
Alzheimer’s disease is rarely mentioned in Greek and Roman medical texts but is flourishing as the world grows more polluted cities and sedentary lifestyles, a study has found. The ancient Greeks noted that ageing causes memory loss, but nothing like the loss of speech, judgment, and memory caused by dementia. Centuries later, this subject was mentioned several times in ancient Rome, one of which was that some 80-year-old people would have difficulty learning new things. Researchers believe that the expansion of Roman Empire cities at the time brought more pollution and increased cognitive decline. It was stated that during the Roman Empire, aristocrats used lead cooking utensils, lead water pipes, and lead in their wines to sweeten them, thus poisoning themselves without realising it.
The USC-led research, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, bolsters the idea that Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are diseases of modern environments and lifestyles, with sedentary behaviour and exposure to air pollution mainly to blame.
While acknowledging that ageing often brought about memory issues, the ancient Greeks had a significantly different understanding of memory loss than our modern concept. They recognised what we would now classify as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) but nothing resembling the profound loss of memory, speech, and reasoning associated with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.
Centuries later, in ancient Rome, a few mentions cropped up. Galen remarks that at 80, some elderly have difficulty learning new things. Pliny the Elder notes that the senator and famous orator Valerius Messalla Corvinus needed to remember his name. Cicero prudently observed that “elderly silliness is characteristic of irresponsible old men, but not all old men.”
“The ancient Greeks had very, very few – but we found them – mentions of something that would be like mild cognitive impairment,” said Caleb Finch, a University Professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “When we got to the Romans, and we uncovered at least four statements that suggest rare cases of advanced dementia – we can’t tell if it’s Alzheimer’s. So, there was a progression from the ancient Greeks to the Romans.”
Finch and co-author Stanley Burstein, a California State University, Los Angeles historian, pored over Hippocrates and his followers’ significant body of ancient medical writing. The text catalogues ailments of the elderly, such as deafness, dizziness, and digestive disorders, but it does not mention memory loss.
Finch speculates that as Roman cities grew denser, pollution increased, driving up cases of cognitive decline. In addition, Roman aristocrats used lead cooking vessels and lead water pipes and even added lead acetate to their wine to sweeten it—unwittingly poisoning themselves with the potent neurotoxin.
A few ancient writers recognised the toxicity of lead-containing material, but little progress was made in dealing with the problem until well into the 20th century. Some scholars blame lead poisoning for the fall of the Roman Empire.)
For this paper, Finch did not just think about the Roman Empire or the Greeks. Without demographic data for ancient Greece and Rome, Finch turned to a surprising model for ancient ageing: today’s Tsimane Amerindians, an Indigenous people of the Bolivian Amazon.
Like the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Tsimane have a preindustrial lifestyle that is very physically active and has meagre rates of dementia. An international team of cognitive researchers led by Margaret Gatz, a professor of psychology, gerontology, and preventive medicine at the USC Leonard Davis School, found that among older Tsimane people, only about 1%suffer from dementia. In contrast, 11% of people aged 65 and older living in the United States have dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“The Tsimane data, which is quite deep, is precious,” Finch said. This is the best-documented large population of older people with minimal dementia, all of which indicates that the environment is a massive determinant of dementia risk. They give us a template for asking these questions.”