Plant-based Diets Lower Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
A 10-country study of the per capita supply of meat and other animal products (not milk) demonstrated that the higher the supply in the 5 years before diagnosis the higher the risk of Alzheimer's disease. This was correlative and could not pinpoint cause and effect. The authors suggest it might be saturated fat or the…
Read MoreDepression Predictor of Alzheimers?
Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia. There is little to be done for treatment so prevention is key. Researchers know that a buildup of the brain protein beta-amyloid is predictive of Alzheimer's. When comparing depressed and non-depressed patients amongst 371 people, researchers found that patients classified with severe depression had a 15% increase…
Read MoreAlzheimer’s Self Tests
A panel of experts reviewed 16 of the most popular, freely available online tests for Alzheimer's disease. Conclusion: these tests are not useful for diagnosis with little or no scientific validity. All reviewed sites demonstrated poor ethical standards and failed to reveal commercial conflicts of interest. Relying on these could potentially be harmful. PositiveTip: If…
Read MoreMove It or Lose It
A recent study shows that the most active older adults are 2.3 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) during a 3.5 year follow-up than the least active group. In this study, a group of 716 people with an average age of 82 wore an actigraph for 10 continous days. This small sensor recorded…
Read MoreBig Benefits From Walking
At the latest Radiological Society of North America meetings, researchers reported that walking just under a mile a day could cut your risk of Alzheimer's disease in half. People who walked also preserved more brain volume in the areas related to memory. These cognitive-protecting benefits are likely a result of exercise improving blood flow to the…
Read MoreOmega-3 Supplements Do Little to Slow Cognitive Decline
A randomized trial gave either a placebo or 2 grams a day of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) to about 400 adults with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer Disease (AD) for 18 months. At the end of treatment there was no difference between the groups, showing that these supplements did not slow the rate of cognitive decline. PositiveTip: DHA supplementation probably results in little improvement…
Read MoreBreak a Sweat to Stave Off Dementia
In the longest study of its kind, researchers have found that moderate to heavy exercise reduced the risk of developing any kind of dementia by 40%. This 20 year follow-up from the Framingham Study also demonstrated that those who reported the lowest levels of activity were 45% more likely to develop dementia. PositiveTip: To lower your…
Read MoreAlzheimer’s Protection from Dietary Vitamin E
Vitamin E is back in the spotlight, following dashed hopes that supplementing with this nutrient would result in many health benefits.A new prospective Dutch study has found that those who consumed the most dietary Vitamin E at the beginning of the study experienced 25% less dementia and Alzheimer's Disease during almost 10 years of follow-up.…
Read MoreCell Phone Use and Alzheimer’s Disease
The Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has reported that researchers exposed normal mice and mice genetically bred to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) to electromagnetic fields (EMF) at frequencies equivalent to cell phones for 2 hours each day. After 7-9 months those mice exposed to the EMF were actually protected against cognitive impairment, and AD-like symptoms were reversed…
Read MoreMid-life Marital Status and Cognitive Function in Later Life
People living in a relationship with a partner in mid-life (average age 50.4) were less likely than those single, separated, or widowed to develop cognitive impairment later in life. This new research also found that those widowed both at mid-life and later life had a significantly higher chance of being cognitively impaired compared to those…
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