Why one expert says this could be the ‘turnaround decade’ for Alzheimer’s treatment – CTV
September 22, 2025
While the number of Canadians with dementia is expected to increase to nearly one million people in the next five years, one senior scientist at the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education believes the next decade is also going to show promising breakthroughs in delivering treatment, prevention and the ability to diagnose earlier.
“This is going to be the turnaround decade,” said Dr. Howard Chertkow in an interview with CTV News on Sunday.
On the topic of prevention, Chertkow said there are several “lifestyle interventions” that have come to light in the past five to 10 years that can reduce the risk of people getting Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“There’s good evidence from population studies that about half of the cases of dementia could be prevented by appropriate lifestyle interventions,” he said. “Now we recognize certain diets, obesity, lack of exercise, problems with your vascular system that are not adequately treated – like high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking- (can increase the risk of dementia).”
Chertkow said new studies show that there are over a dozen practices people could be doing to lower their risk of getting dementia, like sleeping seven hours a night and even flossing their teeth.
