September health news: The latest breakthroughs in Alzheimer's research

Right now, one in 11 seniors has dementia or Alzheimer's disease, a brain-wasting disease that impairs thinking and memory with aging. But Alzheimer's isn't only striking seniors; of the half a million Canadians who have Alzeimer's disease or a related dementia, 71,000 people are younger than 65, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. And of all cases, 72 per cent are women.

Research into Alzheimer's disease and dementia is tremendous, with new studies or leads regularly making news. Here's a sample of what has appeared in the headlines over the summer of 2009. As always, speak with your doctor about new medical reports and findings before making any changes to your current routine.

1. Cut your cholesterol, cut your risk of dementia
After 40 years and nearly 10,000 participants later, a new study proves that having high cholesterol and even borderline high cholesterol in midlife significantly increases the risk of dementia later in life. Of the 9,844 men and women followed, 469 developed Alzheimer's disease and 127 had vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia after AD. The numbers show that high cholesterol increased the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 66 per cent and borderline high cholesterol increased the risk of vascular dementia by 52 per cent.

The good news: You can control high cholesterol and it reduce it by eating right, exercising regularly and maintaining a healthy weight. Simple lifestyle changes now may mean a healthier brain down the road.
The study, from Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research and the University of Kuopio in Finland, was published in the journal Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders in August 2009.

2. Eat more olive oil
Similarly, a new study shows that a Mediterranean-style diet and exercise can decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Mediterranean diets are low in red meat and high in nutrients like vitamin B12, folate and antioxidants that may protect against cognitive decline. These nutrients are found in these foods in the Mediterranean diet:

-fruits
-vegetables
-nuts
-olive oil and;
- grains.

Futhermore, Mediterranean diets are moderate in red wine and fish or shellfish.

Led by Dr. Nikolas Scarmeas at Columbia Medical Center, researchers followed 1,880 people averaging 77 years of age who did not exhibit signs of dementia at the beginning of the study. More than five years later, 282 developed Alzheimer's disease.

The physically active members of the group reduced their risk by 33 per cent; and those who followed a Mediterranean diet reduced their risk by 40 per cent. Seniors who did both reduced their risk by 60 per cent.

The study was published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Click to continue for another reason to drink coffee and more recent Alzheimer's news...

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3. Drink coffee
Debating a second cup of coffee? Drink up! According to a recent study, caffeine reversed memory impairment in mice bred to develop Alzheimer's disease. When the mice were given the equivalent of five 8-ounce cups of coffee a day, researchers reported a 50 per cent reduction in beta amyloid, the plaque-forming protein linked to Alzheimer's disease, found in the blood and in the brain.

After running a series of tests, researchers found that the mice's memories were equal to normal-aged mice without dementia. The researchers hope to begin human trials soon. 

The study was published in the July 2009 issue of Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and led by a team of University of South Florida researchers at the Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

4. Alzheimer's genes that detect risk and age of onset
Two recent studies linked the TOMM40 gene to the onset of Alzheimer's disease. The first study, presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease in Vienna, found that pinpointing TOMM40 can help predict the risk of developing AD as well as the age of onset, within a five-to-seven-year window, in people aged 60 and older.

TOMM40 is linked to another gene, the ApoE, which is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. According to researcher Allen Roses of Duke University's Deane Drug Discovery Institute, the two genes account for 85 to 90 per cent of the genetic effect of AD.

Meanwhile, the second study shows that people with Alzheimer's disease are twice as likely to have the TOMM40 gene than those without AD and that the mutated gene increases the likelihood of dementia, especially when other risk factors are present, such as the ApoE-4 gene.

The latter study was conducted by Dr. Steven Potkin at the University of California, Irvine and published in the August 2009 issue of PLos One.

5. Dementia inhibitors
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has identified a new class of molecules that can block the formation of protein-clumping tau fibrils, which contribute to dementia.

In tests, the drug-like inhibitors stopped the accumulation of the tau protein fibrils, which become insoluble deposits in the brain nerve cells and contribute to a host of brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. Although more testing is needed, researchers hope that the discovery of the chemical series ATPZ may mean candidacy for a potential new drug to combat the disease.

The Penn Medicine and National Institutes of Health Genomics Center study was published in the July 2009 issue of the journal Biochemistry.

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