Dr. Troy Times on PNN

New Cause of Alzheimer's Discovered

Having a big belly in middle age appears to greatly increase one's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia decades later, researchers said on Wednesday.

Their study tracked 6,583 people in northern California for an average of 36 years starting when they were ages 40 to 45. Their abdominal size was measured at the outset of the study.

A total of 1,049 of them -- nearly 16 percent -- went on to develop Alzheimer's disease or some other form of dementia by the time they reached their 70s. Those in the upper 20 percent in terms of belly size in middle age were almost three times more likely to develop dementia than those in the bottom 20 percent of belly size, the researchers found.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia among older people, and researchers have been working to understand the causes and risk factors for the brain disease.

Belly size in middle age was a much better predictor of later development of dementia than looking merely at obesity as shown by a person's body mass index, a measure of body fat based on height and weight, the researchers said.

"It's not just weight, it's where you carry your weight that is a very important risk factor," said Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, California, who led the study.

"If you have two people who are both 10 pounds (4.5 kg) overweight, one carries it around the middle and one carries it around the hips, that person who carries it around the middle needs to know they are at greater risk," Whitmer said in a telephone interview.

Previous research has shown that having a large abdomen in middle age elevates one's risk for diabetes, stroke and heart disease, but the researchers said this was the first study linking belly fat in middle age to increased risk of dementia.

Having a large belly raised one's risk of dementia regardless of whether the person was of normal weight overall, overweight or obese, and regardless of health conditions such as diabetes, stroke and cardiovascular disease, according to the study published in the journal Neurology.

Whitmer said research is needed to reveal the underlying mechanisms linking abdominal size to eventual dementia risk.

"We're sort of at the beginning of understanding the clinical effects of these byproducts of fat," Whitmer said. "But there is evidence from the molecular level, from animal models, and from population studies that it could have a negative effect on the brain."

Measuring abdomen size in the elderly may not be as valuable an indicator of dementia risk because people as they age naturally are apt to lose muscle and bone mass and gain belly size, Whitmer said.

0Vote!

Comments (0) Links Share

Blueberries Help With Memory Problems?

If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England may have good news for you.

They have found that phytochemical-rich foods, such as blueberries, are effective at reversing age-related deficits in memory, according to a study soon to be published in the science journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine. The researchers working at the Schools of Food Biosciences and Psychology in Reading and the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences at the Peninsula Medical School in Exeter supplemented a regular diet with blueberries over a 12-week period, and found that improvements in spatial working memory tasks emerged within three weeks and continued throughout the period of the study.

Blueberries are a major source of flavonoids, in particular anthocyanins and flavanols. Although the precise mechanisms by which these plant-derived molecules affect the brain are unknown, they have been shown to cross the blood brain barrier after dietary intake. It is believed that they exert their effects on learning and memory by enhancing existing neuronal (brain cell) connections, improving cellular communications and stimulating neuronal regeneration.

The enhancement of both short-term and long-term memory is controlled at the molecular level in neurons. The research team was able to show that the ability of flavonoids to induce memory improvements are mediated by the activation of signalling proteins via a specific pathway in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.

This innovative research was conducted by a multidisciplinary research team led by Dr. Jeremy Spencer, a lecturer in Molecular Nutrition at the University of Reading and included Dr. Claire Williams, a Psychologist also from Reading and Dr. Matt Whiteman, a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Peninsula Medical School. Dr Spencer commented: "Impaired or failing memory as we get older is one of life's major inconveniences. Scientists have known of the potential health benefits of diets rich in fresh fruits for a long time. Our previous work had suggested that flavonoid compounds had some kind of effect on memory, but until now we had not known the potential mechanisms to account for this".

Dr. Whiteman added "This study not only adds science to the claim that eating blueberries are good for you, it also provides support to a diet-based approach that could potentially be used to increase memory capacity and performance in the future. Indeed, Dr. Spencer's research team plan on extending these findings further by investigating the effects of diets rich in flavonoids on individuals suffering from cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease."

1Vote!

Comments (2) Links Share