What do you think causes dementia?

This is a “Social” question because I’m asking for opinions, not for science. It’s known that the various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, are neurodegenerative diseases that cause the death of brain cells, memory loss, and cognitive decline. But, nobody knows what really causes dementia or why it’s becoming more prevalent.

I don’t accept the idea that more people are simply being diagnosed with dementia. If you’ve ever been around someone who’s losing mental capacity, you know that it doesn’t take a brilliant diagnostician to make the call. The symptoms and decline are much too apparent.

I also don’t believe that people are just living much longer and, thus, reaching ages when dementia occurs. There are certain conditions, such as frontotemporal dementia, that are increasingly common and affect healthy patients in their 40s and 50s.

Even the hereditary link is uncertain. A person might have no history of dementia in his/her family yet become very ill; it’s equally true that someone can have a strong family background but never suffer.

So, what do you think? Are we being harmed by all the poisons that we ingest through foods and beverages? Could breathing filthy, polluted air affect us? Maybe it’s certain medications or vaccines? Perhaps some childhood illnesses rest dormant in the body and later emerge in the form of dementia (similar to the way that chicken pox can become shingles)? How about something in drinking water, either contaminants or the chemicals used to treat potable water?