More women than men suffer from Alzheimer' s disease -- a disease that is most commonly contracted by elderly persons  This discrepancy has often been attributed to women' s longer life span, but this theory may be wrong  A recent study has shown that prescribing estrogen to women after menopause, when estrogen production in the body decreases, may prevent them from developing the disease
Men' s supply of testosterone may help safeguard them against Alzheimer' s disease because much of it is converted by the body to estrogen, and testosterone levels stay relatively stable into old age
A decrease in estrogen, rather than longer life span, may explain the higher occurrence of Alzheimer's disease in women relative to men.