Is ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE Hereditary?

IT'S HEARTBREAKING TO WATCH A PARENT WITH ALZHEIMER'S LOSE THEIR MEMORY, speech, and ability to take care of themselves. The degenerative brain disease has no cure, and it's only natural to tes deg think, If Mom has it, does that mean I will get it too? The answer depends on many factors, including genetic ones:

- MARISA COHEN

"There are around five dozen different genes that, alone or in combination, pose a slightly higher, or slightly lower, risk in terms of people developing Alzheimer's," says James Noble, M.D., an associate professor of neurology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

But even if you have a gene that raises your risk a bit, it doesn't mean you're destined to develop the disease, he adds.