Alzheimer's Disease: Causes and Risk Factors

Like all types of dementia, Alzheimer's is caused by brain cell death. It is a neurodegenerative disease, there is progressive brain cell death that happens over time.

Over time the tissues have fewer and fewer nerve cells and connections. Autopsies have shown that the nerve tissue in the brain of a person with Alzheimer's has plaques that build up on the tissue.The plaque is found between the dying brain cells, and they are made from a protein known as beta-amyloid. Researches do not still fully understand why these change occur but several risk factors are aging and a family history of alzheimer's disease.