Research and Recent News on Alzheimer’s Disease

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.”

Read More 

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).”

You can read the entire article at the
Journal of Neurology

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

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