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:

Can Celery Help Cut Brain Inflammation? “A compound found in celery and green peppers may help protect against inflammatory brain conditions. The compound, called luteolin, is a potent antioxidant known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Luteolin belongs to a family of plant molecules called flavonoids, which are found in various vegetables, fruits, and beverages, including chamomile tea. Researchers have rigorously studied the potential health effects of flavonoids for more than a decade. Previous studies have shown that flavonoids can help counter dementia caused by brain inflammation.“

Consumption Of Fruits May Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease “… found that the phenolic phytochemicals of the fruits prevented neurotoxicity on the cells. Among the three fruits, apples contained the highest content of protective antioxidants, followed by bananas then oranges. … antioxidants in the major fresh fruits consumed in the United States and Korea protected neuronal cells from oxidative stress… Additional consumption of fresh fruits such as apple, banana, and orange may be beneficial to improve effects in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.” “

Education protects against Alzheimer's impact “Mentally demanding jobs and more education appear to protect people from the memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease, Italian researchers said on Monday. The findings bolster the previous research about Alzheimer's and other forms of brain impairment, said Valentina Garibotto of the San Raffaele University and Scientific Institute and the National Institute of Neuroscience in Milan, Italy. "The theory is that education and demanding jobs create a buffer against the effects of dementia on the brain, or a cognitive reserve," Garibotto said in a statement. "Their brains are able to compensate for the damage and allow them to maintain functioning in spite of damage." “

Education Protects Against Pre Alzheimer's Memory Loss

Exercise Keeps Your Brain From Deteriorating “Professor Kramer notes, however, that exercise treatment is has the ability to positively influence these types of activities and processes. Research has shown that speed and sharpness of thought, or cognitive performance, can be increased by engaging in regular moderate exercise that makes a person breathless. Further, this type of exercise actually can increase the volume of brain tissue and improve the way in which the brain functions. The researchers point out that the impact of exercise is not restricted to those without progressive brain diseases - exercise has also led to improvements in the brain function of Alzheimer's disease patients. Some studies have shown that six months of aerobic exercise reversed age related brain decline and that helped the plasticity of the brains of older adults (the capacity to grow and develop). Other research has found that there is less evidence of grey matter deterioration in physically fitter adults compared to their less physically fit contemporaries.”

Long-Term Use of Ibuprofen Lowers Alzheimer's Disease Risk “A new study by investigators at Boston University School of Medicine found that individuals who specifically used ibuprofen for more than 5 years had a 40% reduced risk for Alzheimer's disease. In addition, there appeared to be a dose-response effect so that the longer ibuprofen was used, the greater the risk reduction.”

Tea Drinking May Help Protect Against Cognitive Impairment and Decline “Regular tea consumption was associated with lower risks for cognitive impairment and cognitive decline, according to the results of a study reported in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.”

Vitamin E and C do not reduce dementia risk “Taking vitamin C or E supplements, either individually or in combination, does not appear to lower the risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease in older adults, study findings suggest. "Our study confirms findings from other studies," lead investigator Dr. Shelly L. Gray of the University of Washington, Seattle said. Vitamin E does not prevent memory problems or dementia. “

ARTICLES:

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Alzheimer's disease, cerebrovascular dysfunction and the benefits of exercise: From vessels to neurons. (Exp Gerontol. 2008) “We conclude that, next to upholding neuronal plasticity, regular exercise may counteract AD pathophysiology by building a vascular reserve.”

Curcumin inhibits aggregation of alpha-synuclein. (Acta Neuropathol. 2008) “Our data suggest that curcumin inhibits AS oligomerization into higher molecular weight aggregates and therefore should be further explored as a potential therapeutic compound for PD and related disorders.”

Diagnosis and treatment of dementia: 1. Risk assessment and primary prevention of Alzheimer disease. (CMAJ. 2008)

Dietary Fatty acids, age-related cognitive decline, and mild cognitive impairment. (J Nutr Health Aging. 2008)

Effect of Physical Activity on Cognitive Function in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer Disease (JAMA. 2008) “Conclusions In this study of adults with subjective memory impairment, a 6-month program of physical activity provided a modest improvement in cognition over an 18-month follow-up period. “

Green tea catechins prevent cognitive deficits caused by Abeta(1-40) in rats. (J Nutr Biochem. 2008) “Our results suggest that long-term administration of green tea catechins provides effective prophylactic benefits against Abeta-induced cognitive impairment by increasing antioxidative defenses.”

Intake of Flavonoid-Rich Wine, Tea, and Chocolate by Elderly Men and Women Is Associated with Better Cognitive Test Performance,. (J Nutr. 2008)

Lifestyle-related factors in predementia and dementia syndromes. (Expert Rev Neurother. 2008) “At present, in older subjects, healthy diets, antioxidant supplements, the prevention of nutritional deficiencies, and moderate physical activity could be considered the first line of defense against the development and progression of predementia and dementia syndromes. However, in most cases, these were only observational studies, and results are awaited from large multicenter randomized clinical trials in older persons that may clarify the possible synergy, for example, between moderate exercise, physical activity and healthy Mediterranean diet on cognition in the elderly.”

NSAID use and dementia risk in the Cardiovascular Health Study (NEUROLOGY 2008) “Conclusions: Results were consistent with previous cohort studies showing reduced risk of AD in NSAID users, but this association was found only in those with an APOE 4 allele, and there was no advantage for Aß42-lowering NSAIDs.”

Protective effects of NSAIDs on the development of Alzheimer disease (NEUROLOGY 2008)

Reduced Alzheimer's risk with NSAID use depends on genetic makeup (Neurology. 2008)

Risk-reducing effect of education in Alzheimer's disease. (Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2008) “CONCLUSIONS: Education had a consistently protective effect on the risk of developing clinical AD in a dose-dependent manner in both men and women, and in all age groups, also when adjusting for the number of APOE epsilon4 alleles. Male gender was protective, probably at least in part because of a higher educational level.”

Tea consumption and cognitive impairment and decline in older Chinese adults (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2008) “Conclusion: Regular tea consumption was associated with lower risks of cognitive impairment and decline. “

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