Alzheimer's Disease - Dementia

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Alzheimer's Disease - Dementia

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Alzheimer's Disease

"Alzheimer's disease (AD), one form of dementia, is a progressive, degenerative brain disease. It affects memory, thinking, and behavior. Memory impairment is a necessary feature for the diagnosis of this or any type of dementia. Change in one of the following areas must also be present: language, decision-making ability, judgment, attention, and other areas of mental function and personality. The rate of progression is different for each person. If AD develops rapidly, it is likely to continue to progress rapidly. If it has been slow to progress, it will likely continue on a slow course. There are two types of AD -- early onset and late onset. In early onset AD, symptoms first appear before age 60. Early onset AD is much less common, accounting for only 5-10% of cases. However, it tends to progress rapidly. The brain tissue shows "neurofibrillary tangles" (twisted fragments of protein within nerve cells that clog up the cell), "neuritic plaques" (abnormal clusters of dead and dying nerve cells, other brain cells, and protein), and "senile plaques" (areas where products of dying nerve cells have accumulated around protein). Although these changes occur to some extent in all brains with age, there are many more of them in the brains of people with AD."

Highlighted Articles

Education and Alzheimer disease without dementia: support for the cognitive reserve hypothesis. (Neurology. 2007)

"CONCLUSIONS: Regardless of the neuropathologic criteria used, education is predictive of dementia status among individuals with neuropathologic Alzheimer disease. These results support the theory that individuals with greater cognitive reserve, as reflected in years of education, are better able to cope with AD brain pathology without observable deficits in cognition."

Nutritional factors, cognitive decline, and dementia. (Brain Res Bull. 2006)

"Nutritional factors and nutritional deficiencies have been repeatedly associated with cognitive impairment. … Deficiencies of several B vitamins have been associated with cognitive dysfunction in many observational studies. More recently, deficiencies of folate (B(9)) and cobalamine (B(12)) have been studied in relation to hyperhomocysteinemia as potential determinants of cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease (AD). A small number of studies assessed the association between intake of macronutrients and cognitive function or dementia. Among the others, the intake of fatty acids and cholesterol has received particular attention. Although the results are not always consistent, most studies have reported a protective role of dietary intakes of poly- and mono-unsaturated fatty acids against cognitive decline and AD."

Exercise Is Associated with Reduced Risk for Incident Dementia among Persons 65 Years of Age and Older (Annals of Internal Medicine 2006)

"Conclusion: These results suggest that regular exercise is associated with a delay in onset of dementia and Alzheimer disease, further supporting its value for elderly persons."

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Alzheimer's Disease - Dementia

Risk Reduction

NEWS:

Active Minds May Keep Alzheimer's at Bay "For the first time, scientists have shown that learning slows the build-up in the brain of protein plaques and tangles that are the signature of Alzheimer's disease. Although the study was conducted in mice, it does reinforce the idea that, in humans, maintaining an active mind may help delay or even prevent Alzheimer's disease. "

Alzheimer's: An Apple Juice a Day " They found drinking fruit or vegetable juice more than three times a week cuts the risk of developing Alzheimer's by 76 percent compared to drinking it less than once a week. And having juice once or twice a week reduced the risk by 16 percent."

An active brain may help keep Alzheimer's at bay "The results of a new study support a number of previous studies that have shown that staying mentally active reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and the mild impairments that precede the condition."

Can an Omega-3 Fatty Acid Slow the Progression of Alzheimer's Disease? "Nutritionists have long endorsed fish as part of a heart-healthy diet, and now some studies suggest that omega-3 fatty acids found in the oil of certain fish may also benefit the brain by lowering the risk of Alzheimer's disease. In order to test whether an omega-3 fatty acid can impact the progression of Alzheimer's disease, researchers supported by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, will evaluate one in a clinical trial, the gold standard for medical research. The study will be conducted nationwide by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), a consortium of leading researchers supported by NIA and coordinated by the University of California, San Diego. The trial will take place at 51 sites across the United States and seeks 400 participants age 50 and older who have mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease."

Certain ACE Inhibitors Cut Elderly Dementia Risk "The researchers found that "centrally acting" ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors may help reduce inflammation that might contribute to dementia."

Fish Oil Prevents Alzheimer's Plaques “Why does fish oil help prevent Alzheimer's disease? Your brain needs a fish oil fatty acid to make a plaque-fighting protein, UCLA researchers find. It's known that people who get plenty of DHA, a fish oil fatty acid, have a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease, note Greg M. Cole, PhD, associate director of the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and colleagues. … It may be too late for people with late-stage Alzheimer's disease to get much benefit from fish oil. But Cole suggests that it may be a great help if taken at the first signs of Alzheimer's.”

Higher Folate Intake Linked to Reduced Alzheimer's Risk

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Slows Alzheimer's "A recent study reveals an omega-3 fatty acid present in fish, eggs, organ meats, micro-algae, fortified foods and certain nutritional supplements could delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease when consumed as part of a normal diet. After conducting research on genetically-altered rodents, researchers at The University of California, Irvine, found a specific type of omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) effectively slows the progression of the brain tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, while reducing levels of a protein responsible for producing brain plaque buildup. "

ARTICLES:

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

A Randomized Trial of Beta Carotene Supplementation and Cognitive Function in Men (Arch Intern Med. 2007) "Conclusion We did not find an impact of short-term beta carotene supplementation on cognitive performance, but long-term supplementation may provide cognitive benefits."

Dietary patterns and risk of dementia (NEUROLOGY 2007) "Conclusion: Frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables, fish, and omega-3 rich oils may decrease the risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease, especially among ApoE 4 noncarriers."

Education and Alzheimer disease without dementia (NEUROLOGY 2007) "Conclusions: Regardless of the neuropathologic criteria used, education is predictive of dementia status among individuals with neuropathologic Alzheimer disease. These results support the theory that individuals with greater cognitive reserve, as reflected in years of education, are better able to cope with AD brain pathology without observable deficits in cognition."

Education delays accelerated decline on a memory test in persons who develop dementia (NEUROLOGY 2007)

[Education provides cognitive reserve in cognitive deterioration and dementia.] (Neurologia. 2007) "Introduction. The cognitive reserve hypothesis states that education provides a better tolerance to brain pathological processes. Consequently, the development of dementia would require more cognitive loss in more educated people. We examine in a cohort of patients with different levels of cognitive impairment, the relationship between the amount of cognitive loss and educational attainment. . Conclusions. Our data confirm that education, or some other related factor, determines the amount of cognitive loss needed for clinical expression of the pathological illness and gives the individuals more tolerance to these processes."

Fish consumption, n-3 fatty acids, and subsequent 5-y cognitive decline in elderly men: the Zutphen Elderly Study (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2007) "Conclusions: A moderate intake of EPA+DHA may postpone cognitive decline in elderly men."

Flavonoid Intake and Cognitive Decline over a 10-Year Period. (Am J Epidemiol. 2007) "This study raises the possibility that dietary flavonoid intake is associated with better cognitive evolution."

Non-pharmacologic prevention of Alzheimer's disease: nutritional and life-style risk factors. (J Neural Transm. 2007) "Cognitive stimulation by mental training increases mental functions and can be recommended on the basis of positive interventional studies. Vitamin supplementation cannot prevent AD on the basis of interventional studies. Hyperlipidemia, hyperhomocysteinemia, diabetes and typical life-style factors (alcohol, smoking, obesity etc.) modestly increased AD risk, fish, mediterranean diet and unsaturated fat or n-3 fatty acids and social activity are protective in observational cohorts, but interventional studies are lacking."

Plasma n-3 fatty acids and the risk of cognitive decline in older adults: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. (Am J Clin Nutr. 2007) "CONCLUSIONS: Promoting higher intakes of n-3 HUFAs in the diet of hypertensive and dyslipidemic persons may have substantial benefits in reducing their risk of cognitive decline in the area of verbal fluency. However, clinical trials are needed to confirm this finding."

Protective Effects of Vitamin E against Oxidative Damage Induced by Abeta(1-40)Cu(II) Complexes. (Acta Biochim Biophys Sin (Shanghai). 2007) "Groups treated with vitamin E exhibited much slighter damage, suggesting that vitamin E plays a key role in protecting neuronal cells from dysfunction or death."

Relation of cognitive activity to risk of developing Alzheimer disease (NEUROLOGY 2007) "Frequent cognitive activity was also associated with reduced incidence of mild cognitive impairment and less rapid decline in cognitive function."

Relation of Higher Folate Intake to Lower Risk of Alzheimer Disease in the Elderly (Arch Neurol. 2007) "Conclusions Higher folate intake may decrease the risk of AD independent of other risk factors and levels of vitamins B6 and B12. These results require confirmation with clinical trials."

The importance of fish and docosahexaenoic acid in Alzheimer disease "In each of these studies, the n-3 fatty acids retarded the decline in cognition over time. One mechanism for the positive effect could be the antithrombotic and antiinflammatory properties of EPA (9). Moreover, the entrance of DHA into the brain could correct DHA deficiency in membrane phospholipids in the cerebral cortex in patients with Alzheimer disease (5), and EPA would counter the proinflammatory action of arachidonic acid, which is a precursor of cytokine and proinflammatory eicosanoids that may be associated with greater cognitive decline."

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