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LETTERS: Closer look at dementia, diet

Editor: Re: Dementia needs attention, March 24 column.

Editor:

Re: Dementia needs attention, March 24 column.

I was quite intrigued to read April Lewis’s Peninsula Zoomers column on dementia.

I live in White Rock and own and manage 3T Priority MRI in Richmond (www.prioritymri.ca) in partnership with four radiologists from Peace Arch Hospital.

I planned to attend yesterday’s meeting organized by CARP’s South Surrey/White Rock chapter and consultant Karen Tyrell and, from this meeting, would like to find out the kinds of support people with dementia need and what can we do about it?

I am exploring the possibility of putting a project together in partnership with medical researchers from UBC to address the problem of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in our community.

A substantial amount of research indicates that a regular exercise and the use of fresh vegetables and fruits by people age 60-plus can improve or eliminate the onset of dementia among older people.

We hope to test this hypothesis by recruiting 50-100 local men and women in their 60s with mild cases of dementia and test them for a year through our research division called Neuro Imaging Centre of Excellence (NICE) using some of the latest techniques in studying brain functions such as f-MRI (functional MRI) and MRS (magnetic resonance spectroscopy).

Syed Islam Haider, White Rock