Category: Senior Health News

Latest Alzheimer’s News

THURSDAY, Dec. 5, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Imagine a blood test that could spot whether you are aging too quickly.

New research suggests it’s not the stuff of science fiction anymore.

The scientists analyzed plasma — the cell-free, fluid part of blood — from more than 4,200 people between the ages of 18 and 95, and found a link between 373 proteins and aging.

“We’ve known for a long time that measuring certain proteins in the blood can give you information about a person’s health status — lipoproteins for cardiovascular health, for example,” said study senior author Tony Wyss-Coray. He’s co-director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Stanford University in California.

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 4, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Cross-country skiing may be good for your brain, a new study suggests.

Previous research found that participants of the Vasaloppet, a popular long-distance, cross-country skiing race in Sweden, have a lower risk of heart attack, but potential brain benefits have been unclear.

This new research compared the brain health of about 200,000 who took part in the Vasaloppet between 1989 and 2010 and a control group from the general population.

Compared with the control group, 50% fewer skiers developed vascular dementia over two decades, the study found. (Vascular dementia is caused by a series of small strokes.)

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Dec. 2, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Playing cards and board games like chess, bingo and Scrabble might be the mental workout you need to keep your wits as you age, Scottish researchers suggest.

People in their 70s who regularly play board games score higher on tests of memory and thinking skills than those who don’t. And 70-somethings who step up their game-playing are more likely to maintain thinking skills as they age, researchers say.

MONDAY, Nov. 25, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Air pollution may trigger Alzheimer’s-like brain changes and speed memory decline in older adults, a new study suggests.

Previous research has implied that exposure to fine particle air pollution increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, but it wasn’t clear how this type of pollution affects the brain and memory.

“This is the first study to really show, in a statistical model, that air pollution was associated with changes in people’s brains and that those changes were then connected with declines in memory performance,” said researcher Andrew Petkus. He’s an assistant professor of clinical neurology at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine.

THURSDAY, Nov. 21, 2019 (American Heart Association News) — The brains of middle-age adults may be aging prematurely if they have obesity or other factors linked to cardiovascular disease, new research has found.

Almost one-quarter of adults have metabolic syndrome, a set of factors that in combination amplify a person’s risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and other illnesses. In the new research, participants were considered metabolically unhealthy if they had two or more such factors: high blood pressure; high blood sugar; high blood triglyceride levels; or low levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol – or if they took medicine for diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol.

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Nov. 18, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Concerns that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs can impair brain health appear to be unfounded, according to new research.

“Statins won’t make you stupid or cause memory loss,” said lead researcher Dr. Katherine Samaras, a professor of medicine at St. Vincent’s Clinical School of Medicine in Darlinghurst, Australia.

And for some people at risk of dementia, statins like Lipitor (atorvastatin) and Crestor (rosuvastatin) may improve memory and mental functioning, her team found.

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Nov. 15, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Many Americans believe they are likely to develop dementia — and they often turn to unproven ways to try to better their odds, a new study suggests.

In a survey, researchers found that almost half of Americans in their 50s and 60s believed they were at least “somewhat likely” to develop dementia. Yet few — 5% — said they had talked to their doctor about ways to lower their risk.

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 13, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Could illiteracy up your odds for dementia?

That’s the suggestion of a study that found seniors who couldn’t read or write were two to three times more likely to develop dementia than those who could.

The finding “provides strong evidence for a link between illiteracy and dementia risk,” said study author Jennifer Manly, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

The finding also offers sobering insight into how dementia risk could be disproportionately affecting the roughly 32 million illiterate adults in the United States.

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