How Many Animals
You Can Name In One Minute, May Help Determine Risk of
Alzheimer's Disease
Researchers reporting this past Tuesday said that the
names of animals (such as Zebra and Giraffe) maybe used
to determine who could be in the earliest stages of
Alzheimer's disease.
A study says that common
words learned later in life typically disappear from the
vocabulary of people in the early stages of Alzheimer's
Disease. An example given is with the names of animals.
Because we typically learn
"Dog" and "Cat" in our earliest years, people in the
early stages of Alzheimer tend to remember the words,
yet other animal names learned later in life, (after age
5) were forgotten, (i.e., words like zebra and giraffe).
In one study, participants
were asked to name as many animals as they could in one
minute, "healthy" people could list 20-25. Alzheimer
sufferer's could only list 10-15, a significant drop in
vocabulary.
You can read more at
BBC
What Some Researchers
Say You Can Do
To Fight Off Memory Loss
Other researchers reporting Wednesday said that the
tools to fight off memory loss associated with aging is
to:
- Be physically fit
- avoid stress
- be socially active
- learn new things
- and "think young"
They also said that
omega-3 (a fish oil) "may reduce the cell inflammation
that triggers a decline in memory."
You can read more at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9241643/
More On Insulin and Aging
A new study, to be published, says that high insulin levels,
among both diabetics and non-diabetics, may contribute to
Alzheimer's disease.
To quote the authors of the study "Although this model has
obvious relevance for diabetes mellitus,
hyperinsulinemia
and insulin resistance are widespread conditions that affect
many nondiabetic adults with obesity, impaired glucose
tolerance, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. Our
results provide a cautionary note for the current epidemic
of such conditions, which, in the context of an aging
population, may provoke a dramatic increase in the
prevalence of AD (Alzheimer's)."
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Loss of Body Mass an Indication of Alzheimer's Risk
Researchers say that loss of weight and body mass in aging
adults are a strong signal for risk of developing
Alzheimer's
disease (AD).
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=ALZHEIMER-WEIGHT-09-26-05&cat=AN
Obesity, High blood Pressure,
High Cholesterol and Alzheimers Risk
Study published in October 10, 2005 issue of the Archives of
Neurology
Midlife
obesity puts you at a higher risk for dementia and
Alzheimer's disease than being at normal weight. The
researchers noted: "Midlife obesity, high total cholesterol
level, and high systolic blood pressure were all significant
risk factors for dementia...."
Read the abstract
http://archneur.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/62/10/1556
Examination of the effects of
testosterone deficiency on Alzheimer's Disease
Gouras GK, Hauxi X, Gross R, et al. Testosterone reduces
neuronal secretion of Alzheimer's -amyloid peptides Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2000;3:1202-5.
Interpretation: Examination of the effects of
testosterone deficiency on Alzheimer's Disease
The
researchers noted: "Increasing evidence indicates that
testosterone, especially bioavailable testosterone, decreases
with age in older men and in postmenopausal women....These
results raise the possibility that testosterone supplementation
in elderly men may be protective in the treatment of Alzheimer's
Disease.
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