A PROFESSOR and consultant psychiatrist from Dowlish Wake is hoping to raise awareness about the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

The national Alzheimer's Awareness Week runs from July 1-7 and Dr Karl Schmidt, from Apple Close, is keen to point out that the key to combating the disease is prevention rather than cure.

He said: "I have just looked at three major modern textbooks of psychiatry in my possession and although they describe Alz-heimer's disease and dementia in precise de-tail, not one of them even mentions the term prevention.

"I am 90 years old and very active both physically and mentally - although short-term memory, I admit, is poor.

"However, prevention of senility and senile dementia is possible."

He has suggested a number of ideas in which people could fend off the possibility of dementia and Alzheimer's in later years.

He said: "Do not retire until it is suggested to you by your seniors.

"I retired from full-time employment at the age of 80. To stop work at 65 is detrimental to mental health.

"Older people should keep studying because it has been said that once you stop learning you are dead. I am now a better student than I was in my student days."

Dr Schmidt is also a believer in supplementary drugs and takes more than 20 a day in small portions' with plenty of herbal tea and fruit juices.

He added: "I am also doing plenty of exercise; I attend a weekly keep-fit class."

He also takes folic acid tablets, which are said to prevent dementias.

There are currently 700,000 people with dementia in the UK and, by 2025, that figure will have risen to more than a million.

Two-thirds of people with dementia problems are women and 60,000 deaths a year are directly attributable to the condition.