Bizarre but true. Connection between dementia and farming?

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Bizarre but true. Connection between dementia and farming?

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My husband and I moved into our subdivision in January 2020. Homes are on 1 acre lots and the land was used as a cattle pasture from what I’m told. A male neighbor, 3 houses away, was diagnosed with dementia in 2020 and was gone within 2 years (I’m not sure which type of dementia). Another neighbor 5 houses away is now in the end stage of frontotemporal dementia I’m told. This has been a rapid decline over approx, 1.5 years. Now…my husband was “labeled” with vascular dementia in January of this year and officially diagnosed following head CT’s and neuropsychiatric evaluation. That’s 3 men, all over 70 years old… all neighbors, diagnosed with dementia within a span of 4 years all living within a 5 acre area. Anybody ever heard of such a coincidence??? Makes me want to move, but not an option at this point in time.

Alzheimer's & Dementia Diagnostic Criteria Grief

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I don't find this situation very bizarre at all. I live in a small neighborhood of homes where everyone is 55 years and older. We've had several residents pass from dementia recently, and several more go into Memory Care Assisted Living. The truth is, it isn't the parcels of land we live on that's creating dementia but likely the chemicals and plastics we're using, combined with other factors, that's causing SO MUCH dementia in 65+ year olds.

The number of Americans living with Alzheimer's is growing — and growing fast.
Nearly 7 million Americans have Alzheimer's.

An estimated 6.9 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's in 2024. Seventy-three percent are age 75 or older.
About 1 in 9 people age 65 and older (10.9%) has Alzheimer's.
Almost two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer's are women.
Older Black Americans are about twice as likely to have Alzheimer's or other dementias as older Whites.
Older Hispanics are about one and one-half times as likely to have Alzheimer's or other dementias as older Whites.

As the size of the U.S. population age 65 and older continues to grow, so too will the number and proportion of Americans with Alzheimer's or other dementias. By 2050, the number of people age 65 and older with Alzheimer's may grow to a projected 12.7 million, barring the development of medical breakthroughs to prevent or cure Alzheimer's disease.

FTD and vascular dementia have the shortest lifespan. Victims normally pass within 5 years of diagnosis.

I'm sorry your husband was diagnosed with dementia recently. I lost my mother to vascular dementia in 2022 after a 6 yr battle.

Wishing you the best of luck and support moving forward.toward.

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I grew up in Boulder as one of three sisters. We all plus mom got breast cancer, which would be easy to blame the now closed Rocky Flats over, but I’ve yet to see a study showing increased breast cancer risk over the Denver Boulder metro area.

In high school, I worked for a senior facility, otherwise known as Boulders nursing home. The residents could mostly get to dining on their own. The average age was mid 70s, and they were all somewhat with it.

Likely most of said residents died within five years of cardiovascular disease or stroke or cancer. Nowadays there is more “saveabity” meaning the person gets to continue their life to the point they experience dementia.

It’s not plastics or what have you that has caused more dementia. It’s that medicine has eliminated the stops before dementia while adding to the risk of dementia.

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It’s three different types of dementia, so they didn’t catch it from each other or from the same source. It’s a dreadful co-incidence, but don’t make yourself feel worse by developing a ‘conspiracy’ theory about it – or by giving yourself the stress of moving again. The time frame for development means that it's NOT 'chemicals and plastic' in this piece of ground. Sympathy, Margaret

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Amonia from animal waste can cause dementia. If this land was formally a cattle pasture then it is possible.

Did your husband spend a lot if time outside? What about the other men diagnosed?

Three on the same block is pretty strange and they wouldnt all get the exact same type of dementia because everyone's brains are different.

I would consider taking soil samples to be tested if I were you just to see how toxic the ground where you live is.

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I have my own theories since I had to watch my Mother Pass from Dementia and My Dad has Been Ill with FTD and Alzheimers . My Mother Used a Lot of Pills for stress over her Lifetime - she was a Nurse so had easy access She was on anti depressants and told me " when she tried to get Off the Paxil her heart Hurt - " Then became quite dependent on Xanax for several Years . Xanax contains a Lot of heavy metals and Is heavily addictive - the withdrawals are terrible . She also had Multiple operations replacing Knees and hips which Led to a heart attack and Pace maker . My Father On the other hand was healthy and never got sick . He did eat meat and sugar. he started taking a lot of Viagra . He had several unexplained falls . Then he had the Covid vaccines and that's when the falls really Began . My Aunt recently came down with Dementia during Covid she broke her leg and it couldn't be fixed and I think that Led to a depression . We Lived In a world where people thought Pills and vaccines could fix problems . People in the Older generation 90 - 100 dont Have Alzheimers and I believe it is because they didnt eat a lot of processed and canned Foods . Our government uses Chemtrails as a metal mesh netting to protect us from the Ozone hole But we are breathing That In . More and More people are getting Dementia and Alzheimers in the Country but other countries dont Have it ? Africa , Tribes in the Amazon , India seem to have few cases . So Yes the environment and what you eat or swallow is a major factor as Our brains can't Process molecules Unfamiliar to Our DNA .

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If you are referring to the streaks of clouds left behind high altitude planes, they are not chemtrails. They are contrails, an abbreviation of condensation trails. That’s why, in periods of high humidity there are more, and longer lasting trails, compared to during dry air conditions.

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It could be partially coincidence . The fact is we live in a very polluted country . If this is a new subdivision , it’s likely some of these people had the start of these dementia’s before you all moved in and now after a few years their symptoms became apparent.

If you live in a 55 and over , of course you will see this happening a lot in a small radius .

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Corrolation is not causation. If you live in an area where the average age is higher, then this increases the odds that those neighbors were on their way to dementia for multiple other reasons. People can have all the theories in the world but unless these theories are proven through more than one, large-scale, mass-participant studies then you are just operating from your biases. The medical science community right now is not even sure what causes dementia even after all sorts of studies. It is inherently difficult to study dementia in relationship to the environment because it is difficult to control the literal environment that people live in. And, how to do you have a control group if they too live in and breath the same air, the same dirt, etc? Some dementias are inherited, as was the case with my Aunt who lived to almost 101 (showed symptoms in late 80s and passed in Jan 2023). She lived with her older sister their whole lives (and 20 of those years was with me as I grew up). They lived identical lives, even working in the same pharma company. Ate the same foods (Mediterranean diet), lived in the same homes (NYC and NJ), had the same friends, had no bad habits, retired withing 2 years of each other, etc. Yet one sister developed dementia and the other didn't. In fact the other one is now 105 living in FL with very little cognitive decline. This can only mean one thing: the other sister inhereted her dementia. Their Mom (my Grandmother) also lived to 96 despite living with a smoker husband who passed from lung cancer at 77 (and worked in his own machine shop breathing in all sorts of fumes). All their 8 children lived into their 90s, despite some of them smoking in their youth. Some developed dementia very late in their lives. If you have theories about the source of dementia then you should research whether environmental variables as a cause is supported by *multiple reputable and reproduced* large-scale studies. Then you won't have to live in fear for no reason. As for "people in other countries" -- they don't do studies to the extent that is done in other parts of the world where medical science is a priority. Studies are labor intensive, time-consuming and expensive, so without a *reason* to do the study, plus government funding or grants -- they don't happen. Medtech companies fund studies because they have financial interest in the research and outcomes.

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Not bizarre to me at all. In any group of people over 70 you will see dementias developing.

The causes of vascular dementia are known - strokes, high blood pressure, things that disrupt the blood flow to the brain cells. It has nothing to do with where you live.

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What Geaton said about correlation not being causation is absolutely true.
If there was no chemical activitity in the area such as fracking, etc, or old gas station with poor cleanup, and so on, this is likely coincidental. As yet we have no idea if such things even contribute to dementias, it is all a moot point.

You are correct that it is bizarre, but such clusters do happen.

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Datanp97, I do think your concerns are valid. It is well known in the biochemical field that certain chemicals are neurotoxic. If you have an interest in exploring this you may be interested in this NIH paper: "Role of neurotoxicants in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease: a mechanistic insight". I am sorry about your husband and wish you both the best.

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datanp97, while doing my family tree, many of my relatives came over from the old country and were farmers. Vast majority of them lived into their 80's and 90's and were still farming, most died from heart related issues. Yes, some had memory issues but that is to be expected when one gets up into their 90's.

Many of the wives (if they didn't die in childbirth) and daughters who continued to live on the farm, passed at even older ages.

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Freqflyer, ‘the vast majority..were still farming’ is a bit surprising. My take on it is that in their 80s and 90s most couldn’t do the physical work of farming (still can't these days), more or less just ‘pottered’ while the next generation took over the work, dropped down their food intake in favor of the younger people, and often died roundabout their late 70s - early 80s. Much the same for women, who had worked just as hard in a kitchen that was more like a small factory. The 'daughters who continued to live on the farm' were doing age care.

Perhaps the records favored the longer lived? Which was your relevant 'old country'?

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Have you had your water tested? If you have a well it may be contaminated by agricultural chemicals from the soil. I do think it would take more than 4 years for any farm chemicals to cause dementia. Good luck!

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NeedsAnap, that's a possibility, but just about every farm has several wells (wind power) that were used for drinking water, cooking, bathing, and cleaning. Both sets of my grandparents, my great-grand-parents, and great-great-grandparents lived with wells. No dementia until they were in their later years.

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There is known connection between some dementias and with Parkinson's felt to be due to heavy pesticide use in farming. Some of the worst Asthma in our nation occurs in the breast basket valleys of California.

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Did you really mean breast basket???? :-0
I thought that was in Hollywood.

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I'm 75, born on a working farm, left for college, diagnosed at 30 with liver failure. The specialist said 3 years BUT if I eased my lifestyle it would repair itself. With no children & a willing wife with a good job, I "retired" to our 25 acres. A month of sleeping maybe 16 hours a day & working on our horse pasture & she couldn't call me because I was out shopping & visiting. 6 years later we sold that & retreated to 150 acres closer to her new position. Working outdoors, building fence, watching the hawks catching mice whilst making hay extended my life. Retired for a decade, warned about covid because I needed blood transfusions, I'm healthier than most of our friends, including those 30 years younger. She's as healthy at 77 even though she's married to me. Learning to ease stress is most important, but having a long-time relationship (54 years) and moderately exercising into my 76th year definitely helped.

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My husband is a Vietnam veteran with two tours of duty in Vietnam that extended to other nearby countries. He is presently being evaluated by the VA due to disabilities that are now presumed to be caused by Agent Orange, an herbicide. One of them is dementia, which has been diagnosed. Other factors in this evaluation are exposure to jet fuel and pesticides. It is many years since his service, but the damage can show up much later. Look up info online at the Veterans Administration. Also U.S. government pages. When you start investigating, lawyers' pages will start appearing in the search results. They often have a lot of info about presumptive causes of dementia and other disabilities. Sometimes they relate case stories or can direct you to blogs of the afflicted.

Based on what I've learned, farming could have a connection to dementia if the same chemicals or family of chemicals were used.

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A resident in the facility is a Veteran with Dementia.

It's really sad to see how it is affecting him.

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Coincidence. It might be the building materials used by the developer since you probably spend more time inside than outside. Grew up on a farm and was exposed to all sorts of pesticides, herbicides etc. Still going strong at 83.

Just saying there's a lot of wild guessing in some of these responses.

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It is scientifically KNOWN that herbicides (many of them formerly in use) are toxic to animals. Whether that has anything to do with DEMENTIA clusters is not yet proven. But many things ARE proven about them. And yes, wild guessing is what is done with clusters until/when/if they are fully investigated. Anyone's guess counts. Maybe it is the surplus of cow patties! Hee hee.
The link between pesticides and Parkinson's is now VERY GOOD, but of course will require more and more numbers to study. One cannot take a cluster, move it, and see what happens when it does NOT live in the Central Valley. Same with asthmatic children.
The Camp LeJeune studies in which we consider it now proven why these guys got so ill due to the numbers and the specificity of the agents, are quite interesting. Accepted of course by the government in that we are paying a hefty price for it.
As an RN I am kind of the last person into a good conspiracy theory, but we have indications a-plenty now. IMHO.

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It’s not just ‘living on a farm’, it’s the level of exposure. Some farms are sprayed all the time, some are not. People who do aerial spraying are more at risk because they are in it for hours – that’s their job. My DH has a Chemcert certificate, even though we haven’t used chemicals very frequently. The course provider said that one of the highest risks for men was going for a quick outside pee without washing their hands first – highly sensitive area, but not what you would think of first.

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Houses and office buildings built in the early 1970's had Urea Formaldehyde foam insulation. Another 1970's problem, houses built with pressure treated lumber containing arsenic.

Glues release novel types of organic compounds into the air that may cause allergic symptoms (glues used underneath carpeting set on concrete). Common in office buildings and homes.

Radon in lower levels of homes and office buildings. Home Depot/Lowes sells radon detectors. We had this in our basement and had it fixed. Radon can cause lung cancer.

Furniture & fabrics (e.g. upholstery foam). Halogenated Flame Retardants, too much of it can cause neurological damage. Home and office.

I can smell new electronics for months on end. Again, home and office. Hated those offices where I couldn't open a window.

New car smell? That’s the first wave of off-gassing. Open the windows, that odor is not good for you.

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Yup ,

my first response below was we live in a polluted world . Nowhere is safe . It’s the price we pay for progress the past 100 years or so .

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Not enough information. Correlation isn't always causation.

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I have a 1st edition copy of Silent Spring, the USA 1962 book about pesticide and herbicide problems that largely kicked off the environment movement. Interesting, it says that WWII chemical warfare establishments often got a second life post-war for chemical 'cides, which got flogged energetically to farmers with minimal testing. I think Australia came to the party later, and we didn’t suffer so much.

Another example of 'War, war, what is it good for - Absolutely Nothing'. A pity that the alternative can be worse.

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Well, I read several years ago that Monsanto pesticides are banned in France because they were proven to cause dementia. I don’t have the source, but it stuck in my mind. I’m sorry to read this.

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I don't think so. Monsanto was taken over by Bayer and the name was dropped, after it got targeted about DDT and then by people who objected to genetically modified food. (If you breed domestic animals - even cats and dogs- you know full well that they are all 'genetically modified' by breeding over a few thousand years, so that isn't all that frightening). It was probably DDT that was banned. I'm fairly sure that no research has identified anything specific that 'causes dementia'.

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It isn't your neighborhood, it's statistics that are against you. 75% of people 75 years old and older have some dementia, 80% at 80 years old and older... If it was 1 specific form of dementia, I would suggest you notify local extension of CDC for an community study. Since that is not the case, it is a coincidence.

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Where did you get your statistics from? "75% of people 75 years old and older have some dementia, 80% at 80 years old and older" - oh really? As your mother is 80, of course that doesn't include you, which may affect your imagination.

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This is such a touchy and difficult subject. Agree that many individuals are living longer thanks to "better living through chemistry." Many have also eaten the standard American diet their entire lives, but things like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. (linked to meat, dairy, pork, chicken and PROCESSED food), can take its toll. Example, my mom was born in India in 1929 and their meals were plant-forward (and cooked with spices that provide benefits, such as anti-inflamatories). When she legally immigrated to the U.S. at the age 17, she adopted the standard American diet. She married my dad at the age of 23. Dad was a factory worker and did physical labor his whole working life. He also had a huge vegetable garden (picture a football field) and hand-tilled and planted it. He developed diabetes in his 40s and of course, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, too. He drank more than he should and ate not-so-good-stuff with his buddies on the midnight shift, so despite his physical activity, he was overweight. Mom had no lifestyle health issues until she was in her 70s, when she developed high blood pressure and high cholesterol. She made sure my dad had a healthy diet (protein, greens, vegetables, etc.), although still eating animal protein. Mom started having cognitive issues in her mid-eighties. That's when I took over their finances. She's now 95 and has dementia. Although diagnosed with late-stage Alzheimers 4 years ago, she has an exceptionally extensive vocabulary and still recognizes her family members. Her short term memory is practically non-existent and we just moved her to memory care from assisted living - she's not ambulatory any more and requires a wheelchair. My dad, now almost 95 is still sharp as a tack. My parents did not eat a lot of processed food. They cooked meals from scratch (and we regularly had Indian food with all the lovely spices that had wonderful health benefits) until their late 70s early 80s. Lifestyle, environment, and genes all play a part in our overall health. Chances are that moving to a plot of land a few years before being diagnosed with dementia had nothing to do with your husband's recent diagnosis. It's difficult for sure. Love him while you can and check in often on this forum. I've been lurking in the background of this amazing site for 7 years and their observations and experiences are invaluable. May God bless you and your husband and give you strength for what lies ahead.

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Stress increases the load on body systems, making them more vulnerable to environmental factors. Being able to reduce stress maybe 90% has given me more than 40 years beyond my doctor-predicted Best By Date. Most of that time we have been eating our own mostly pasture-grown lamb, living in a water region rated the 5th best system water in the U.S., raising sheep without chemicals except Ivermectin monthly. We grew most of our vegetables, my wife's commute was 10 miles of country road to the small town of Greensburg, PA; mine was, at most, 1/2 mile trip through pastures & old forests to the back of the farm. I'm not counting the many trips even further outback for farming & mechanical supplies; they were all over back roads to agricultural suppliers.

Ivermectin: William Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for its discovery and applications. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an antiparasitic agent. Our main chemical was diesel fuel for tractors, gasoline for cars. My Jeep Cherokees returned about 17 mpg hauling a trailer of sheep to market, the worst mileage of our vehicles for about 30 the last years. I'm 74, my wife is 76, both still mentally acute, physically less active but moving.

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Taking Ivermectin is very dangerous and it is not deemed safe for human consumption.
Reporting your comment to the admins for their review.

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Increased dementia has more to do with increasing life expectancies rather than where you live. Nobody got dementia when everybody was dying at 62.

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What was the average age of the residents living in that 5 acres? How many people total, and how many over the age of 70? How long have people been living there? This story is anecdotal, not scientific. Correlation is not causation.

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This might be what is being referred to.

www.public-health.uiowa.edu/news-items/study-shows-working-in-agriculture-poses-higher-risk-of-developing-dementia/#:~:text=Investigators%20found%20that%20those%20who%20identified%20as%20having,worked%20over%2010%20years%20at%20their%20longest-held%20job.

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Bizarre but true. Connection between dementia and farming?

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