Recent Longevity News for the week ending 11/5/14:

Coenzyme Q10 helps veterans battle gulf war illness symptoms - Science Daily, 11/3/14 - "Roughly one-third of the 700,000 United States troops who fought in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War have subsequently developed a distinct set of chronic health problems, dubbed Gulf War illness ... a high quality brand of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) -- a compound commonly sold as a dietary supplement -- provides health benefits to persons suffering from Gulf War illness symptoms ... Evidence instead links Gulf War illness to chemical exposures ... These chemicals can damage mitochondria, which generate the energy our cells need to do their jobs ... 80 percent of those who received 100mg of CoQ10 had improvement in physical function. The degree of improvement correlated to the degree in which CoQ10 levels in the blood increased ... Gulf War illness symptoms like headaches, fatigue with exertion, irritability, recall problems and muscle pain also improved" - See ubiquinol products at Amazon.com and MitoQ at Amazon.com.

'Mild' control of systolic blood pressure in older adults is adequate: 150 is good enough - Science Daily, 11/3/14 - "Keeping systolic blood pressure in older adults below 150 is important, it's what we consider a mild level of control ... But for older people that level is also good enough. After an extensive review, there was no significant evidence that more intensive management is necessary"

Pterostilbene, a molecule similar to resveratrol, as a potential treatment for obesity - Science Daily, 10/30/14 - "The study conducted in this research is the first pre-clinical piece of work that analyses the effects of this phenolic compound on obesity in the animal model. In this model, pterostilbene cuts body fat due to a reduction in fat synthesis in adipose tissue and an increase in its oxidation in the liver" - See pterostilbene at Amazon.com.

Coffee Consumption and Mortality - Medscape, 10/30/14 - "There was strong evidence of nonlinear associations between coffee consumption and mortality for all causes and CVD (P for nonlinearity < 0.001). The largest risk reductions were observed for 4 cups/day for all-cause mortality (16%, 95% confidence interval: 13, 18) and 3 cups/day for CVD mortality (21%, 95% confidence interval: 16, 26)"

Effect of Green Tea Extract on Uric Acid and Urate Clearance - Medscape, 10/29/14 - "Participants were assigned randomly at the interventional period to consume GTE at 2 (GTE2), 4 (GTE4), or 6 (GTE6) g/d. Levels of serum uric acid (SUA), uric acid clearance, and serum antioxidant power (using trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay) were measured at both ends of each study period ... Serum uric acid reduction was greatest in GTE2 (from 4.81 ± 0.81 mg/dL to 4.64 ± 0.92 mg/dL, 3.53%). Uric acid clearance decreased significantly in GTE2 (from 11.37 ± 6.41 mL/min per 1.73 m2 to 7.44 ± 2.74 mL/min per 1.73 m2, 34.56%, P < 0.05) and GTE4 (from 8.36 ± 3.41 mL/min per 1.73 m2 to 5.78 ± 2.33 mL/min per 1.73 m2, 30.86%, P < 0.05). Serum antioxidant capacity (TEAC) increased significantly in GTE6 (from 32.77 ± 3.39 mg/mL to 35.41 ± 3.17 mg/mL, 8.06%, P < 0.05)" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.

Tea, citrus products could lower ovarian cancer risk, new research finds - Science Daily, 10/28/14 - "The research reveals that women who consume foods containing flavonols and flavanones (both subclasses of dietary flavonoids) significantly decrease their risk of developing epithelial ovarian cancer ... The main sources of these compounds include tea and citrus fruits and juices" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com.

Mushroom extract, AHCC, helpful in treating HPV - Science Daily, 10/28/14 - "Ten HPV-positive women were treated orally with the extract, AHCC (active hexose correlated compound) once daily for up to six months. Five achieved a negative HPV test result -- three with confirmed eradication after stopping AHCC -- with the remaining two responders continuing on the study ... Currently, there is no effective medicine or supplement to treat HPV, which is associated with more than 99 percent of cervical cancer cases ... several other cancers are related to HPV, including 95 percent of anal cancer, 60 percent of oropharyngeal, 65 percent of vaginal cancer, 50 percent of vulvar cancer and 35 percent of penile cancer ... AHCC increases the number and/or activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells, dendritic cells and cytokines, which help the body fight off infections and block tumor growth" - See AHCC at Amazon.com.

Breathe easier: Get your vitamin D - Science Daily, 10/28/14 - "Of some 21,000 asthma patients in Israel studied, those with a Vitamin D deficiency were 25 percent more likely than other asthmatics to have had at least one flare-up in the recent past" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

This Is Your Brain on Drugs - NYTimes.com, 10/29/14 - "What she and fellow researchers at Harvard and Northwestern University found within those scans surprised them. Even in the seven participants who smoked only once or twice a week, there was evidence of structural differences in two significant regions of the brain. The more the subjects smoked, the greater the differences ... All smokers showed abnormalities in the shape, density and volume of the nucleus accumbens, which “is at the core of motivation, the core of pleasure and pain, and every decision that you make,”"

Metformin Beats Other Type 2 Diabetes Drugs for First Treatment: Study – WebMD - WebMD, 10/28/14 - "of those started on metformin, only about one-quarter needed another drug to control their blood sugar. However, people who were started on type 2 diabetes drugs other than metformin often needed a second drug or insulin to control their blood sugar levels ... around 40 percent of people taking a sulfonylurea, a thiazolidinedione, or a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor (DPP-4 inhibitor) added a second drug to their diabetes treatment regimen during the study. Just 25 percent of those on metformin added an additional oral drug during the study period ... 5 percent of those started on metformin later added insulin to their treatment, according to the study. About 9 percent of those who started on a sulfonylurea, 6 percent started on a DPP-4 inhibitor and 6 percent started on thiazolidinediones, also took insulin" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Abstracts from this week:

Synergistic effects of atorvastatin and rosiglitazone on endothelium protection in rats with dyslipidemia - Lipids Health Dis. 2014 Oct 31 - "Atorvastatin and rosiglitazone therapy had synergistic effects on endothelium protection as well as amelioration of oxidative stress and inflammatory reaction in rats with dyslipidemia" - Note:  I don't know why they did this study with rosiglitazone instead of pioglitazone which is the same class of drug.  Most people have switched to pioglitazone because some studies showed that rosiglitazone increased heart disease.  I'm not convinced that's true.

Effect of metformin therapy and dietary supplements on semen parameters in hyperinsulinaemic males - Andrologia. 2014 Oct 30 - "Nineteen hyperinsulinaemic male patients were treated for 3 months with metformin alone (Group A), and fifteen patients used metformin in combination with the nutritional supplement (Group B) ... The improvement in sperm morphology after treatment was similar for the two respective groups (P < 0.05). The morphological normal sperm forms increased from the mean percentage of 3.9 to 5.5% and from 4.2 to 5.5% for Group A and B respectively. Where a combination of metformin and the supplement were used (Group B), the combination treatment proved to be superior in obtaining enhanced chromatin packaging quality although not statistically significant (P = 0.5929) when compared with the metformin (Group A) group. The chromatin packaging quality in Group B improved with 10% while the improvement in Group A was approximately 8.3%" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.

Regular consumption of Fiit-ns, a polyphenol extract from fruit and vegetables frequently consumed within the Mediterranean diet, improves metabolic ageing of obese volunteers: a randomized, double-blind, parallel trial - Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2014 Oct 31:1-6 - "Epidemiological studies suggest that metabolic ageing process of overweight and obese populations is associated with an increased risk of developing non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Inflammation, hyper-glycaemia, dyslipidemia and oxidative stress have been associated with early stages of NCDs development whereas cohort surveys have demonstrated health benefits of dietary polyphenols from various dietary sources to reverse such progress. Obese volunteers were included in a double-blind, randomized, parallel pilot trial where they received daily for a 12-week period 900 mg of a polyphenol-rich treatment extracted from fruit and vegetables frequently consumed within the Mediterranean diet ... After 12 weeks, while the silhouette slimmed down, metabolic parameters were significantly improved and general satisfaction considerably ameliorated. These data suggest that over a 12-week period, the synergistic action of bioactives within the treatment improves metabolic ageing process and quality of life in obese volunteers" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com which contains twice that (1850 mg) of fruit/vegetable extract plus I feel that it's better ingredients with less mark-up. 

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on blood pressure in patients with elevated blood pressure and vitamin D deficiency: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial - Blood Press Monit. 2014 Oct 27 - "42 outpatients with elevated BP and vitamin D deficiency were assigned randomly to two groups: the vitamin D-supplemented group (VDG), who received one capsule containing 50 000 IU of cholecalciferol weekly, and the placebo group (PG), who received one similar capsule containing oral liquid paraffin as placebo for 8 weeks ... At the end of the intervention, the mean SBP and DBP, and the MAP decreased significantly in VDG compared with the PG ... The mean changes in SBP (-6.4±5.3 vs. 0.9±3.7 mmHg, PV<0.001), DBP (-2.4±3.7 vs. 1.0±2.7 mmHg, PV=0.003), and MAP (-3.7±3.6 vs. 0.9±2.5 mmHg, PV<0.001) were lower in the VDG than PG" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Effect of Ginkgo Biloba Extract on Lipopolysaccharide-induced Anhedonic Depressive-like Behavior in Male Rats - Phytother Res. 2014 Oct 24 - "The peripheral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces depressive-like behavior ... EGb 761 may be useful for reducing anhedonic depressive-like behavior" - See Ginkgo biloba at Amazon.com.

Associations between the Serum 25(OH)D Concentration and Lipid Profiles in Japanese Men - J Atheroscler Thromb. 2014 Oct 27 - "Serum 25(OH)D level is inversely correlated with the LDL-C/HDL-C, TG, ApoB and ApoB/ApoA-1 values in Japanese men, independent of the VFA and cardiorespiratory fitness" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.

Higher serum carotenoid concentrations associated with a lower prevalence of the metabolic syndrome in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults - Br J Nutr. 2014 Oct 27:1-8 - "Dietary data and other covariates were collected during face-to-face interviews ... We found dose-response inverse relationships between individual serum carotenoid concentrations and total carotenoids and the prevalence of the MetS after adjusting for potential confounders (P for trend < 0.001). The OR of the MetS for the highest (v. lowest) quartile were 0.31 (95 % CI 0.20, 0.47) for α-carotene, 0.23 (95 % CI 0.15, 0.36) for β-carotene, 0.44 (95 % CI 0.29, 0.67) for β-cryptoxanthin, 0.39 (95 % CI 0.26, 0.58) for lycopene, 0.28 (95 % CI 0.18, 0.44) for lutein+zeaxanthin and 0.19 (95 % CI 0.12, 0.30) for total carotenoids. Higher concentrations of each individual carotenoid and total carotenoids were significantly associated with a decrease in the number of abnormal MetS components (P for trend < 0.001-0.023). Higher serum carotenoid levels were associated with a lower prevalence of the MetS and fewer abnormal MetS components in middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults" - See carotenoids at Amazon.com.

Health Focus (Alzheimer's Disease):

Alternative News:

• Fish Oil Slows Cognitive Decline, With Caveats - Medscape, 10/9/14 - "fish oil supplement use during the study was associated with a significantly lower rate of cognitive decline as measured by the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and the Mini-Mental State Examination, but only in participants free of dementia at the time of enrollment. Moreover, in patients with normal cognition at baseline, those who reported taking fish oil supplements demonstrated less brain atrophy in one or more of the MRI regions of interest, compared with those who did use the supplements" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D prevents cognitive decline and enhances hippocampal synaptic function in aging rats - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Sep 29 - "Vitamin D is an important calcium-regulating hormone with diverse functions in numerous tissues, including the brain. Increasing evidence suggests that vitamin D may play a role in maintaining cognitive function and that vitamin D deficiency may accelerate age-related cognitive decline ... Our studies demonstrate a causal relationship between vitamin D status and cognitive function, and they suggest that vitamin D-mediated changes in hippocampal gene expression may improve the likelihood of successful brain aging" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Turmeric compound boosts regeneration of brain stem cells - Science Daily, 9/25/14 - "A bioactive compound found in turmeric promotes stem cell proliferation and differentiation in the brain ... The findings suggest aromatic turmerone could be a future drug candidate for treating neurological disorders, such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• A specific multi-nutrient enriched diet enhances hippocampal cholinergic transmission in aged rats - Neurobiol Aging. 2014 Jul 24 - "Fortasyn Connect (FC) is a specific nutrient combination designed to target synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease by providing neuronal membrane precursors and other supportive nutrients ... the FC diet enhances hippocampal cholinergic neurotransmission in aged rats and suggest that this effect is mediated by enhanced synaptic membrane formation. These data provide further insight into cellular and molecular mechanisms by which FC may support memory processes in Alzheimer's disease"
  • Souvenaid - Wikipedia - "Souvenaid was developed by Advanced Medical Nutrition division of Nutricia and contains a patented combination of nutrients, referred to under the trademark Fortasyn Connect™.[4] Souvenaid was designed to support synapse formation and function[1] in early Alzheimer’s disease ... Composition ... Eicospentaenoic acid, 300 mg ... Docosahexaenoic acid, 1200 mg ... Phospholipids 106 mg ... Choline, 400 mg ... Uridine monophosphate, 625 mg ... Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol equivalents), 40 mg ... Selenium, 60 µg ... Vitamin B12, 3 µg ... Vitamin B6, 1 mg ... Folic acid, 400 µg" - See uridine at Amazon.com.  Most health conscious people are probably already taking the other incredients.
• Creating pomegranate drug to stem Alzheimer's, Parkinson's - Science Daily, 8/22/14 - "The onset of Alzheimer's disease can be slowed and some of its symptoms curbed by a natural compound that is found in pomegranate. Also, the painful inflammation that accompanies illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson's disease could be reduced ... punicalagin, which is a polyphenol -- a form of chemical compound -- found in pomegranate fruit, can inhibit inflammation in specialised brain cells known as micrologia. This inflammation leads to the destruction of more and more brain cells, making the condition of Alzheimer's sufferers progressively worse ... we do know that regular intake and regular consumption of pomegranate has a lot of health benefits -- including prevention of neuro-inflammation related to dementia" - See pomegranate extract at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D And Dementia: A Very Close Tie - Medscape, 8/6/14 - "Researchers obtained blood samples in 1992–1993 and in 2008; they measured serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) concentrations. They classified these samples as follows: less than 25 nmol/L (severely deficient), 25 nmol/L or greater to less than 50 nmol/L (deficient), and 50 nmol/L or greater (sufficient) ... After also adjustment for education, sex, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, and depressive symptoms, the HRs for all-cause dementia were 1.53 in those who were vitamin D deficient and 2.25 for those who were severely deficient ... Low vitamin D levels likely affect cognition through both neurodegenerative and vascular mechanisms ... The findings suggest that the optimal vitamin D level to prevent dementia is 50 nmol/L. Others in the field argue that a higher level — 75 nmol/L — is better" - [Abstract] - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Regular Fish Consumption and Age-Related Brain Gray Matter Loss - Am J Prev Med. 2014 Jul 29 - "Data were analyzed from 260 cognitively normal individuals from the Cardiovascular Health Study with information on fish consumption from the National Cancer Institute Food Frequency Questionnaire and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ... Weekly consumption of baked or broiled fish was positively associated with gray matter volumes in the hippocampus, precuneus, posterior cingulate, and orbital frontal cortex even after adjusting for covariates" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Association of fish oil supplement use with preservation of brain volume and cognitive function - Alzheimers Dement. 2014 Jun 18 - "fish oil supplements (FOSs) ... Older adults (229 cognitively normal individuals, 397 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 193 patients with Alzheimer's disease) were assessed with neuropsychological tests and brain magnetic resonance imaging every 6 months ... FOS use during follow-up was associated with significantly lower mean cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale and higher Mini-Mental State Examination scores among those with normal cognition ... FOS use during the study was also associated with less atrophy in one or more brain regions of interest" - [Science Daily] - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Milk and Dairy Consumption and Risk of Dementia in an Elderly Japanese Population: The Hisayama Study - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2014 Jun 10 - "vascular dementia (VaD) ... The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of all-cause dementia, AD, and VaD significantly decreased as milk and dairy intake level increased (P for trend = .03 for all-cause dementia, .04 for AD, .01 for VaD)"
• Korean Red Ginseng Extract Exhibits Neuroprotective Effects through Inhibition of Apoptotic Cell Death - Biol Pharm Bull. 2014;37(6):938-46 - "Taken together, these findings suggest that KRG extract may be beneficial for the prevention and/or treatment of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease" - See ginseng at Amazon.com.
• 1α,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 Reduces Cerebral Amyloid-β Accumulation and Improves Cognition in Mouse Models of Alzheimer's Disease - J Neurosci. 2014 May 21;34(21):7091-101 - "The composite data suggest that the VDR is an important therapeutic target in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Mouse study offers new clues to cognitive decline - Science Daily, 5/8/14 - "The pathway begins with the B vitamin nicotinamide. Cells take dietary nicotinamide and, with a helper protein called Nampt, manufacture a molecule called NMN, which then is processed further to make NAD. When Stein eliminated Nampt from neural stem cells, several significant changes took place ... Levels of NAD dropped, and the neural stem cells stopped dividing; they stopped renewing themselves; and they stopped being able to create important cells that insulate axons, the "wires" that carry electrical signals throughout the brain. With less insulation, these signals slow down, impairing brain function"
  • What Is the Difference Between Niacin & Niacinamide? - LiveStrong.com - "Your body can convert niacin into niacinamide ... Niacin and niacinamide have identical function when used as vitamins ... their pharmacologic properties differ. For example, high doses of niacin can cause skin flushing. Niacinamide, however, does not have the same vasodialating, or blood-vessel widening, effects, that niacin has, so it does not lead to skin flushing" - Note:  You'll find contradictory information on the Internet but niacinamide will not raise HDL and niacin will.  See niacin at Amazon.com.
• A Nutrient Combination that Can Affect Synapse Formation - Nutrients. 2014 Apr 23;6(4):1701-10 - "Brain neurons form synapses throughout the life span. This process is initiated by neuronal depolarization, however the numbers of synapses thus formed depend on brain levels of three key nutrients-uridine, the omega-3 fatty acid DHA, and choline ... In Alzheimer's disease (AD) the need for extra quantities of the three nutrients is enhanced, both because their basal plasma levels may be subnormal (reflecting impaired hepatic synthesis), and because especially high brain levels are needed for correcting the disease-related deficiencies in synaptic membrane and synapses" - See uridine at Amazon.com, docosahexaenoic acid at Amazon.com and citicholine at Amazon.com.
• Rutin protects against cognitive deficits and brain damage in rats with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion - Br J Pharmacol. 2014 Apr 24 - "Rutin, an active flavonoid compound, has been shown to potently protect the brain against several insults via its anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, but its effect on cognitive deficits and brain damage caused by chronic cerebral hypoperfusion remains unknown so far ... Studies were carried out in rats with permanent bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO), a well-established rat model of chronic cerebral hypoperfusion ...BCCAO rats showed remarkable cognitive deficits, which were significantly improved by rutin treatment. Moreover, BCCAO rats exhibited central cholinergic dysfunction, oxidative damage, inflammatory responses, and neuronal damage in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus as compared with sham-operated rats, all of which were significantly alleviated by long-term treatment of rutin" - See rutin at Amazon.com.
• Taurine attenuates amyloid β 1-42-induced mitochondrial dysfunction by activating of SIRT1 in SK-N-SH cells - Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2014 Apr 12 - "Amyloid β (Aβ) plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD) ... Taurine, a naturally occurring β-amino acid in the brain, has been demonstrated to have neuroprotective properties ... Our results suggest that taurine prevents Aβ1-42-induced mitochondrial dysfunction by activation of SIRT1. This study implies that taurine is a prospective additive for AD patients" - See taurine at Amazon.com.
• Caffeine against Alzheimer's disease? Positive effect on tau deposits demonstrated - Science Daily, 4/7/14 - "Tau deposits, along with beta-amyloid plaques, are among the characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease. These protein deposits disrupt the communication of the nerve cells in the brain and contribute to their degeneration ... Caffeine, an adenosine receptor antagonist, blocks various receptors in the brain which are activated by adenosine"
• Clinical Investigation of the Protective Effects of Palm Vitamin E Tocotrienols on Brain White Matter - Stroke. 2014 Apr 3 - "Previous cell-based and animal studies showed mixed tocotrienols are neuroprotective, but the effect is yet to be proven in humans. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the protective activity of mixed tocotrienols in humans with white matter lesions (WMLs). WMLs are regarded as manifestations of cerebral small vessel disease, reflecting varying degrees of neurodegeneration and tissue damage with potential as a surrogate end point in clinical trials ... total of 121 volunteers aged ≥35 years with cardiovascular risk factors and MRI-confirmed WMLs were randomized to receive 200 mg mixed tocotrienols or placebo twice a day for 2 years ... the mean WML volume of the placebo group increased after 2 years, whereas that of the tocotrienol-supplemented group remained essentially unchanged" - My favorite: Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• What Is Fisetin? And Does It Slow Dementia? - Medscape, 4/3/14 - "The compound is known to have both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects on brain cells. They have now investigated the memory-protecting effects of fisetin in a strain of double-transgenic Alzheimer's disease (AD) mice. Three-month-old mice had fisetin added to their food. By 9 months of age, mice that had not received fisetin began performing more poorly in water mazes, a standard test of animal learning and memory. Mice fed fisetin daily performed as well as control mice without the Alzheimer's transgene at both 9 months and 1 year old. The researchers next found that in AD mice with memory impairment, pathways involved in cellular inflammation were activated. In fisetin-fed AD mice, those pathways were dampened, and anti-inflammatory molecules were activated" - See fisetin at Amazon.com.
• Healthy midlife diet may prevent dementia later - Science Daily, 3/10/14 - "those who ate the healthiest diet at the average age of 50 had an almost 90 per cent lower risk of dementia in a 14-year follow-up study than those whose diet was the least healthy ... Vegetables, berries and fruits, fish and unsaturated fats from milk products and spreads were some of the healthy components, whereas sausages, eggs, sweets, sugary drinks, salty fish and saturated fats from milk products and spreads were indicated as unhealthy ... Even those who are genetically susceptible can at least delay the onset of the disease by favouring vegetable oils, oil-based spreads and fatty fish in their diet"
• Nicotinamide and neurocognitive function - Nutr Neurosci. 2014 Feb 21 - "A literature review was conducted on the effects of nicotinamide and its derivatives as a preventive and therapeutic agent for disorders of neurocognitive function. Specific conditions examined include age-related cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and ischaemic and traumatic brain injury ... nicotinamide may be beneficial in preserving and enhancing neurocognitive function ... Nicotinamide is non-toxic, inexpensive and widely available, and interventional studies in humans, using supplemental doses of nicotinamide, are now warranted" - See nicotinamide at Amazon.com.  It’s just one more nutrient to add to the arsenal that may have a synergistic effect to delay or help prevent Alzheimer’s or dementia.
  • What Is the Difference Between Niacin & Niacinamide? - LiveStrong.com - "Your body can convert niacin into niacinamide ... Niacin and niacinamide have identical function when used as vitamins ... their pharmacologic properties differ. For example, high doses of niacin can cause skin flushing. Niacinamide, however, does not have the same vasodialating, or blood-vessel widening, effects, that niacin has, so it does not lead to skin flushing" - Note:  You'll find contradictory information on the Internet but niacinamide will not raise HDL and niacin will.  See niacin at Amazon.com.
• Chemicals in 'Western' Diet Show Alzheimer's-Like Effects in Mice - WebMD, 2/24/14 - "when they added the compounds -- called advanced glycation end products (AGEs) -- to the lifelong diets of laboratory mice, the animals developed greater amounts of beta-amyloid in the brain. Beta-amyloid is the protein that makes up the brain "plaques" seen in people with Alzheimer's disease ... mice fed these compounds developed more problems with movement and memory as they aged compared to mice that spent their lives dining on chow that produced low levels of these chemicals ... AGEs are naturally present in small amounts in the human body ... But you also ingest the compounds through food -- particularly animal products prepared at a high heat ... That includes fried, grilled or broiled meats, and dairy products that are pasteurized or sterilized"
• Rutin improves spatial memory in Alzheimer's disease transgenic mice by reducing Aβ oligomer level and attenuating oxidative stress and neuroinflammation - Behav Brain Res. 2014 Feb 7 - "orally administered rutin significantly attenuated memory deficits in AD transgenic mice, decreased oligomeric Aβ level, increased super oxide dismutase activity and glutathione (GSH)/glutathione disulfide (GSSG) ratio, reduced GSSG and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, downregulated microgliosis and astrocytosis, and decreased interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 levels in the brain. These results indicated that rutin is a promising agent for AD treatment because of its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and reducing Aβ oligomer activities" - See rutin at Amazon.com.
  • Rutin - Wikipedia - "Rutin is a citrus flavonoid glycoside found in many plants including buckwheat,[6] the leaves and petioles of Rheum species, and asparagus"
• Natural plant compound prevents Alzheimer's disease in mice - Science Daily, 1/27/14 - "A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice ... In experiments on mice that normally develop Alzheimer's symptoms less than a year after birth, a daily dose of the compound -- -a flavonol called fisetin -- -prevented the progressive memory and learning impairments" - See fisetin at Amazon.com.
• Dietary treatment shows potential in mouse model of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 1/24/14 - "The study used transgenic female mice carrying APP and PS1 mutations linked with familial Alzheimer's disease, and wild-type mice ... some of the APP/PS1 mice were fed three experimental chows enriched with fish oil and having a similar fat content as the control chow: fish oil supplement only, plant sterol supplement or Fortasyn supplement, which contains uridine-monophosphate, phospholipids, B- vitamins, and antioxidants ... Among transgenic mice on the experimental diets, the mice on the Fortasyn diet performed equally well as the wild-type mice, whereas other dietary treatments showed no improvement. However, all test diets reversed the memory deficit of the APP/PS1 mice in the odour recognition task. The levels of accumulated amyloid-β protein in the brain were examined at the end of the study. A significant reduction in the amyloid-β levels was observed in the plant sterol group while other experimental diets showed no effect. However, why was a substantial reduction in brain amyloid-β levels not accompanied by a positive memory effect in the spatial task in the plant sterol group? One explanation is that the plant sterol diet increased formation of reactive oxygen species in the hippocampus, whereas the Fortasyn diet, which yielded the best results in the spatial memory task, tended to have an opposite effect" - See uridine at Amazon.com.
• Fish Oil Might Guard Against Loss of Brain Cells - WebMD, 1/22/14 - "The more you consume the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils, the less likely you are to lose as many precious brain cells as you age ... the researchers tested levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the red blood cells of more than 1,000 older women. Eight years later, the women had MRI scans that measured their brain volumes. At the time of the scans, the women were an average of 78 years old ... Participants whose omega-3 levels were twice as high had a 0.7 percent higher brain volume ... The results suggest that the effect on brain volume is the equivalent of delaying the normal loss of brain cells that comes with aging by one to two years" - [Medscape] - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Higher RBC EPA + DHA corresponds with larger total brain and hippocampal volumes - Neurology, 2014 Jan 22 - "RBC eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and MRI brain volumes were assessed in 1,111 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study ... A higher omega-3 index was correlated with larger total normal brain volume and hippocampal volume in postmenopausal women measured 8 years later. While normal aging results in overall brain atrophy, lower omega-3 index may signal increased risk of hippocampal atrophy" - See fish oil supplements at Amazon.com.
• Several forms of vitamin E protect against memory disorders, study says - Science Daily, 1/7/14 - "Studies investigating the link between vitamin E and memory disorders have usually focused on a single form of vitamin E, namely α-tocopherol, which is also used in vitamin E supplements. However, vitamin E exists in eight different natural forms, tocopherols and tocotrienols, all of which have antioxidant properties ... This recently published study comprises a sample of 140 over 65-year-old Finnish persons with no memory impairment at the onset of the study. During the eight-year follow-up, it was discovered that higher total serum levels of vitamin E, and higher levels of γ-tocopherol, β-tocotrienol and total tocotrienols in particular, seemed to protect against memory disorders. According to the researchers, the results show that the entire vitamin E family plays a role in memory processes" - See mixed tocopherols at Amazon.com.  My favorite is Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin E Improves Function in Mild Alzheimer's Disease - Medscape, 12/31//13 - "The study, conducted at 14 Veterans Affairs medical centers, assessed the effect of vitamin E alone or with memantine on functional decline in 613 patients (97% men) with mild to moderate AD ... By random assignment, 152 patients received 2000 IU of α-tocopherol per day, 155 received 20 mg of memantine per day, 154 received the combination of vitamin E and memantine, and 152 received placebo. They were followed for a mean of 2.3 years ... The annual rate of decline in ADLs was reduced by 19% (P = .03) with vitamin E compared with placebo" - [Science Daily] [Abstract] - Note:  I'm still sticking with the mixed form of vitamin E.  See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Cholesterol levels linked to early signs of Alzheimer's in brain - nbcnews.com, 12/30/13 - "Reed and his team studied brain scans of 74 patients in stroke clinics and senior centers using Pittsburgh Compound B, or PIB, a tracer dye that highlights amyloid in the brain. The patients were, for the most part, normal and free of any symptoms of dementia ... But when the scientists measured the cholesterol in their blood, and teased out the two types, they found that patients with high levels of low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol and low levels of high-density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol showed higher PIB levels ... That means that the good and bad effects of the two kinds of cholesterol may occur long before people develop Alzheimer’s symptoms, perhaps offering a new chance for early intervention ... The American Heart Association has long said that keeping levels of HDL “good” cholesterol up — above 60 milligrams per deciliter of blood — and levels of LDL “bad” cholesterol — below 100 mg/dL — can prevent heart disease. But this new study underscores the benefit for the brain" - See niacin at Amazon.com (to raise HDL.  See my niacin page).
• Serum levels of vitamin E forms and risk of cognitive impairment in a Finnish cohort of older adults - Exp Gerontol. 2013 Dec;48(12):1428-35 - "A sample of 140 non-cognitively impaired elderly subjects derived from the Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Dementia (CAIDE) study was followed-up for 8years to detect cognitive impairment, defined as development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or Alzheimer's dementia. The association between baseline serum vitamin E and cognitive impairment was analyzed with multiple logistic regression after adjusting for several confounders ... Elevated levels of tocopherol and tocotrienol forms are associated with reduced risk of cognitive impairment in older adults. The association is modulated by concurrent cholesterol concentration. Various vitamin E forms might play a role in cognitive impairment, and their evaluation can provide a more accurate measure of vitamin E status in humans" - [Nutra USA] - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Omega-3 Dietary Supplements Pass Blood-Brain Barrier - Science Daily, 12/4/13 - "omega-3 fatty acids in dietary supplements can cross the blood brain barrier in people with Alzheimer's disease ... The findings are presented in the Journal of Internal Medicine, and strengthen the evidence that omega-3 may benefit certain forms of this seriously debilitating disease ... Thirty-three patients participated in the study, 18 of whom received a daily omega-3 supplement and 15 a placebo for six months. The results show that the first group had higher levels of both DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, another omega-3 fatty acid) in their cerebrospinal fluid (which surrounds the CNS) and blood. No such change was seen in the placebo group ... Moreover, they also found that levels of DHA correlated directly with the degree of change in Alzheimer's disease and inflammatory markers in the cerebrospinal fluid" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Aerobic Exercise Improves Memory, Brain Function, Physical Fitness - Science Daily, 11/12/13 - "sedentary adults ages 57-75 were randomized into a physical training or a wait-list control group. The physical training group participated in supervised aerobic exercise on a stationary bike or treadmill for one hour, three times a week for 12 weeks ... By measuring brain blood flow non-invasively using arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI, we can now begin to detect brain changes much earlier than before ... One key region where we saw increase in brain blood flow was the anterior cingulate, indicating higher neuronal activity and metabolic rate. The anterior cingulate has been linked to superior cognition in late life ... Exercisers who improved their memory performance also showed greater increase in brain blood flow to the hippocampus, the key brain region affected by Alzheimer's disease"
• Magnesium levels vital to brain health as population ages - Science Daily,  11/4/13 - "the human brain begins shrinking after age 25. Structural changes and loss of brain synapses lead to rapid decline in cognitive health ... magnesium deficiency in adults may play a more important role in CI, and more seriously, Alzheimer's Disease (AD), than previously thought ... elevation of brain magnesium through dietary intake of magnesium threonate exerts substantial positive effects on brain synapes in a mouse model of AD, actually restoring aging brains to their youthful conditions ... the 'gold standard' of science, demonstrates that dietary supplementation of Magtein, patented magnesium threonate, can significantly enhance human cognitive functions and decrease symptoms of cognitive impairments ... We know that as we age our bodies naturally lose magnesium. For example, drinking coffee or caffeinated products increases the loss" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.
• High Glucose Linked to Poorer Memory, Even Without Diabetes - Medscape, 10/23/13 - "lowering blood glucose levels, possibly even to relatively low levels, might help preserve cognition ... Strategies that help lower blood glucose levels include a healthy Mediterranean-type diet and regular physical activity ... cross-sectional study included 141 healthy persons (mean age, 63.1 years) ... lower performance on 3 memory tasks (delayed recall, learning ability, and consolidation) was associated with higher levels of both the long-term marker of glucose control (HbA1c) and the short-term glucose marker ... For insulin, there was a "general trend going in the same direction" but correlations were less clear, and without the same direct relationship ... How low is it safe to go in terms of blood glucose levels? ... If you're used to low blood sugar levels, you can go quite low ... The idea is that the lower the A1c the better your brain function" - [Science Daily]
• Major Alzheimer's risk factor linked to red wine target - Science Daily, 10/21/13 - "researchers at the Buck Institute found a link between ApoE4 and SirT1, an "anti-aging protein" that is targeted by resveratrol, present in red wine ... ApoE4 causes a dramatic reduction in SirT1, which is one of seven human Sirtuins ... the abnormalities associated with ApoE4 and AD, such as the creation of phospho-tau and amyloid-beta, could be prevented by increasing SirT1" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• High serum fatty acid protects against brain abnormalities - Science Daily, 10/17/13 - "3,660 people aged 65 and older underwent brain scans to detect so called silent brain infarcts, or small lesions in the brain that can cause loss of thinking skills, dementia and stroke. Scans were performed again five years later on 2,313 of the participants ... silent brain infarcts, which are only detected by brain scans, are found in about 20% of otherwise healthy elderly people ... those who had high long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content in blood had about 40% lower risk of having small brain infarcts compared to those with low content of these fatty acids in blood ... people who had high long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content in blood also had fewer changes in the white matter in their brains" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Statins and Cognition: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Short- and Long-term Cognitive Effects - Mayo Clin Proc. 2013 Sep 27 - "A systematic search was performed of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register from their inception to April 25, 2013 ... Long-term cognition studies included 23,443 patients with a mean exposure duration of 3 to 24.9 years. Three studies found no association between statin use and incident dementia, and 5 found a favorable effect. Pooled results revealed a 29% reduction in incident dementia in statin-treated patients"
• Statin May Prevent Dementia, Memory Loss With Longer Use, Don't Pose Short-Term Cognition Problems - Science Daily, 10/1/13 - "statins do not affect short-term memory or cognition. In contrast, they say that when the drugs are taken for more than one year, the risk of dementia is reduced by 29 percent ... We looked at high-quality, randomized controlled trials and prospective studies that included more than 23,000 men and women with no prior history of cognitive problems. The participants in those studies were followed for up to 25 years ... Vascular dementia is caused by blockages in small blood vessels in the brain that prevent blood flow to certain areas. Medications such as statins that reduce plaque and inflammation in coronary arteries may also be having the same effect on blood vessels in the brain"
• New brain magnesium research and its role in reversing effects of Alzheimer’s - Nutra USA free download, 9/24/13 - "Magtein is the only magnesium compound that has been shown to effectively raise the brain’s magnesium levels, which leads to enhanced learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory in both young and aged animals. In four published preclinical studies, Magtein was found to improve memory, alleviate anxiety and help prevent the decline and reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s ... Here, we show that increasing brain magnesium using a newly developed magnesium compound (magnesium-L-threonate, Magtein) leads to the enhancement of learning abilities, working memory, and short- and long-term memory in rats" - See Magtein at Amazon.com.
  • Elevation of brain magnesium prevents and reverses cognitive deficits and synaptic loss in Alzheimer's disease mouse model - J Neurosci. 2013 May 8;33(19):8423-41 - "Here, we investigated whether elevation of brain magnesium by the use of a recently developed compound, magnesium-l-threonate (MgT), can ameliorate the AD-like pathologies and cognitive deficits in the APPswe/PS1dE9 mice, a transgenic (Tg) mouse model of AD. MgT treatment reduced Aβ plaque and prevented synapse loss and memory decline in the Tg mice. Strikingly, MgT treatment was effective even when given to the mice at the end stage of their AD-like pathological progression ... Our results suggest that elevation of brain magnesium exerts substantial synaptoprotective effects in a mouse model of AD and may have therapeutic potential for treating AD in humans"
• Fish oil could help protect alcohol abusers from dementia - Science Daily, 9/8/13 - "pooled the results of 143 studies, found that moderate social drinking may reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment. (Moderate drinking is defined as a maximum of two drinks per day for men and 1 drink per day for women.) ... exposed cultures of adult rat brain cells to amounts of alcohol equivalent to more than four times the legal limit for driving. These cell cultures were compared with cultures of brain cells exposed to the same high levels of alcohol, plus a compound found in fish oil called omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Researchers found there was about 90 percent less neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells exposed to DHA and alcohol than in the cells exposed to alcohol alone" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Therapeutic Potential of Turmeric in Alzheimer's Disease: Curcumin or Curcuminoids? - Phytother Res. 2013 Jul 19 - "Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. There is limited choice in modern therapeutics, and drugs available have limited success with multiple side effects in addition to high cost. Hence, newer and alternate treatment options are being explored for effective and safer therapeutic targets to address AD. Turmeric possesses multiple medicinal uses including treatment for AD. Curcuminoids, a mixture of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin, are vital constituents of turmeric. It is generally believed that curcumin is the most important constituent of the curcuminoid mixture that contributes to the pharmacological profile of parent curcuminoid mixture or turmeric. A careful literature study reveals that the other two constituents of the curcuminoid mixture also contribute significantly to the effectiveness of curcuminoids in AD. Therefore, it is emphasized in this review that each component of the curcuminoid mixture plays a distinct role in making curcuminoid mixture useful in AD, and hence, the curcuminoid mixture represents turmeric in its medicinal value better than curcumin alone" - See curcumin products at Amazon.com.
• Preventing Alzheimer's disease-related gray matter atrophy by B-vitamin treatment - Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 May 20 - "Is it possible to prevent atrophy of key brain regions related to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD)? One approach is to modify nongenetic risk factors, for instance by lowering elevated plasma homocysteine using B vitamins. In an initial, randomized controlled study on elderly subjects with increased dementia risk (mild cognitive impairment according to 2004 Petersen criteria), we showed that high-dose B-vitamin treatment (folic acid 0.8 mg, vitamin B6 20 mg, vitamin B12 0.5 mg) slowed shrinkage of the whole brain volume over 2 y. Here, we go further by demonstrating that B-vitamin treatment reduces, by as much as seven fold, the cerebral atrophy in those gray matter (GM) regions specifically vulnerable to the AD process, including the medial temporal lobe ... B vitamins lower homocysteine, which directly leads to a decrease in GM atrophy, thereby slowing cognitive decline" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com and vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Low vitamin and carotenoid levels are related to cerebral white matter lesions - J Nutr Health Aging. 2013;17(5):456-60 - "To determine the effects of vitamins and carotenoids on brain white matter lesions (WMLs), we examined the associations between WMLs with vitamin and carotenoid levels in Japanese middle-aged and elderly subjects ... Deep white matter lesions (DWLs) ... Lower gamma-tocopherol levels were significantly associated with DWLs in all subjects. While lower gamma-tocopherol and vitamin C levels were significantly associated with DWLs in males, lower delta-tocopherol levels were associated with DWLs in females. The associations between DWLs and lower gamma- and delta-tocopherol and vitamin C levels were independent of age, hypertension, or smoking. However, the associations between DWLs and lower alfa-tocopherol were not significant following adjustments for smoking" - Note:  Most supplements only contain alfa-tocopherol which had no affect.  See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• More Evidence Berries Have Health-Promoting Properties - Science Daily, 4/21/13 - "researchers from the Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and University of Maryland Baltimore County recently fed rats a berry diet for 2 months and then looked at their brains after irradiation, a model for accelerated aging ... Berries seem to promote autophagy, the brain's natural housekeeping mechanism, thereby reducing the toxic accumulation" - See Garden of Life, Radical Fruits Antioxidant Complex at Amazon.com.
• Dietary patterns and risk of dementia in an elderly Japanese population: the Hisayama Study - Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Apr 3 - "dietary pattern 1 was correlated with high intakes of soybeans and soybean products, vegetables, algae, and milk and dairy products and a low intake of rice ... vascular dementia (VaD) ... AD, and VaD were reduced by 0.66 (95% CI: 0.46, 0.95), 0.65 (95% CI: 0.40, 1.06), and 0.45 (95% CI: 0.22, 0.91), respectively, in subjects in the highest quartile of score for dietary pattern 1 compared with subjects in the lowest quartile"
• Explaining how extra virgin olive oil protects against Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 3/20/13 - "Newer research suggested that the actual protective agent might be a substance called oleocanthal, which has effects that protect nerve cells from the kind of damage that occurs in AD ... oleocanthal showed a consistent pattern in which it boosted production of two proteins and key enzymes believed to be critical in removing Aβ from the brain" - See olive leaf extract at Amazon.com.
• Pomegranate Polyphenols and Extract Inhibit Nuclear Factor of Activated T-Cell Activity and Microglial Activation In Vitro and in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Alzheimer Disease - J Nutr. 2013 Mar 6 - "Alzheimer disease (AD) brain is characterized by extracellular plaques of amyloid β (Aβ) peptide with reactive microglia ... Three months of pomegranate feeding decreased the path length to escape of mice compared with their initial 12-mo values (P < 0.05) and their control-fed counterparts (P < 0.05). Brains of the 3-mo study pomegranate-fed mice had lower tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) concentrations (P < 0.05) and lower nuclear factor of activated T-cell (NFAT) transcriptional activity (P < 0.05) compared with controls. Brains of the 3-mo pomegranate or control mice were also compared with an additional control group of 12-mo-old mice for histologic analysis. Immunocytochemistry showed that pomegranate- but not control-fed mice had attenuated microgliosis (P < 0.05) and Aβ plaque deposition (P < 0.05) compared with 12-mo-old mice ... These data indicate that dietary pomegranate produces brain antiinflammatory effects that may attenuate AD progression" - See pomegranate at Amazon.com.
• Citicoline May Improve Memory, Decrease Cognitive Decline - Medscape, 3/5/13 - "The study examined 349 patients older than 64 years from 6 regions in Italy who had memory complaints and evidence of vascular lesions — but who did not have probable Alzheimer's disease ... the participants who received citicoline had significantly better memory scores, as shown on the Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE), up to 9 months after treatment compared with their counterparts who did not receive the treatment ... Of the 349 study participants, 265 received 500 mg of oral citicoline twice daily" - See citicholine at Amazon.com.
• Green tea extract interferes with the formation of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 3/5/13 - "The aggregation of these proteins, called metal-associated amyloids, is associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions ... Lim and an interdisciplinary team of researchers used green tea extract to control the generation of metal-associated amyloid-β aggregates associated with Alzheimer's disease in the lab ... The specific molecule in green tea, ( -- )-epigallocatechin-3-gallate, also known as EGCG, prevented aggregate formation and broke down existing aggregate structures in the proteins that contained metals -- specifically copper, iron and zinc" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Copper can protect against Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 2/17/13 - "under conditions which are approximately similar to those found in the brain, copper can only protect against beta amyloid forming beta sheets and as such it is highly unlikely that copper is directly involved in the formation of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease ... The research, published by Nature's online journal Scientific Reports, may also imply that lower levels of copper in the brain may promote the mechanisms whereby beta amyloid is deposited as senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease" - See Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com.
• Green tea and red wine extracts interrupt Alzheimer's disease pathway in cells - Science Daily, 2/5/13 - "They were able to interrupt this pathway using the purified extracts of EGCG from green tea and resveratrol from red wine ... Alzheimer's disease is characterised by a distinct build-up of amyloid protein in the brain, which clumps together to form toxic, sticky balls of varying shapes. These amyloid balls latch on to the surface of nerve cells in the brain by attaching to proteins on the cell surface called prions, causing the nerve cells to malfunction and eventually die ... The team formed amyloid balls in a test tube and added them to human and animal brain cells ... When we added the extracts from red wine and green tea, which recent research has shown to re-shape amyloid proteins, the amyloid balls no longer harmed the nerve cells" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com and resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D, omega-3 may help clear amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 2/5/13 - "Our new study sheds further light on a possible role for nutritional substances such as vitamin D3 and omega-3 in boosting immunity to help fight Alzheimer's ... The team incubated the immune cells overnight with amyloid-beta. They added either an active form of vitamin D3 called 1alpha,25–dihydroxyvitamin D3 or an active form of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA called resolvin D1 to some of the cells to gauge the effect they had on inflammation and amyloid-beta absorption ... Both 1alpha, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 and resolvin D1 improved the ability of the Alzheimer's disease patients' macrophages to gobble-up amyloid-beta, and they inhibited the cell death that is induced by amyloid-beta. Researchers observed that each nutrition molecule utilized different receptors and common signaling pathways to do this"
• Mild vitamin B12 deficiency associated with accelerated cognitive decline - Science Daily, 12/5/12 - "examined data from 549 men and women enrolled in a cohort of the Framingham Heart Study, focusing on scores on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), a short list of questions and tasks commonly used to screen for dementia. The subjects were divided into five groups, based on their vitamin B-12 blood levels ... Being in the two lowest groups was associated with significantly accelerated cognitive decline ... Rapid neuropsychiatric decline is a well-known consequence of severe vitamin B-12 deficiency, but our findings suggest that adverse cognitive effects of low vitamin B-12 status may affect a much larger proportion of seniors than previously thought" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D tied to women's cognitive performance - Science Daily, 11/30/12 - "Higher vitamin D dietary intake is associated with a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease ... low vitamin D levels among older women are associated with higher odds of global cognitive impairment and a higher risk of global cognitive decline ... Slinin's group based its analysis on 6,257 community-dwelling older women who had vitamin D levels measured during the Study of Osteopathic Fractures" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• This is your brain on exercise - nbcnews.com, 11/26/12 - "Seniors who fit in the most daily physical activity – from raking leaves to dancing – can have more gray matter in important brain regions ... The scientists have images that show people who were the most active had 5 percent more gray matter than people who were the least active. Having more little gray brain cells translates into a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, other studies have shown ... the MRIs showed the differences were in areas of the brain like the hippocampus, which is heavily damaged in Alzheimer’s disease ... No pharmaceutical drug on the market has been shown to have these effects on the brain -- not a single drug ...  And exercise is available to anyone ... And it doesn’t cost anything"
• Effects of supplementation with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on cognitive performance and cardiometabolic risk markers in healthy 51 to 72 years old subjects: a randomized controlled cross-over study - Nutr J. 2012 Nov 22;11(1):99 - "Fish oil n-3 PUFA (3g daily) were consumed during 5weeks separated by a 5 week washout period in a cross-over placebo controlled study, including 40 healthy middle aged to elderly subjects ... Supplementation with n-3 PUFA resulted in better performance in the WM-test compared with placebo (p < 0.05). In contrast to placebo, n-3 PUFA lowered plasma triacylglycerides (P < 0.05) and systolic blood pressure (p < 0.0001). Systolic blood pressure (p < 0.05), f-glucose (p = 0.05), and s-TNF-alpha (p = 0.05), were inversely related to the performance in cognitive tests ... Intake of n-3 PUFA improved cognitive performance in healthy subjects after five weeks compared with placebo. In addition, inverse relations were obtained between cardiometabolic risk factors and cognitive performance, indicating a potential of dietary prevention strategies to delay onset of metabolic disorders and associated cognitive decline" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Vitamin D could hold vital key to arresting development of Alzheimer’s disease - Science Daily, 11/8/12 - "Alzheimer's patients who were not using medication had very poor stores of vitamin D2 -- the type originating from food such as oily fish, rather than that obtained from exposure to the sun. "The vitamin was either non-existent or in such low quantities that it could barely be measured," he explained. "In comparison, people in the study who were either being treated with drugs to control their Alzheimer's or who didn't have the condition at all showed far higher levels."" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Aspirin may slow the decline in mental capacity among elderly patients, Swedish study suggests - Science Daily, 10/22/12 - "Of the 681 women, 129 received a low daily dose of acetylsalicylic acid, equivalent to a fourth of an aspirin, to prevent heart disease. The Gothenburg study shows that acetylsalicylic acid also slowed decline in brain capacity among the elderly women ... At the end of the five year examination period mental capacity had declined among all the women and the portion that suffered from dementia was equally large in the entire group. However, the decline in brain capacity was significantly less and occurred at a slower pace among the women who received acetylsalicylic acid"
• Exercise Protects Aging Brains Better - WebMD, 10/22/12 - "The new research included about 700 people living in the United Kingdom who all had brain scans when they reached the age of 73 ... Three years earlier, at age 70, the study participants were questioned about the leisure and physical activities they engaged in ... People in the study who reported being the most physically active tended to have larger brain volumes of gray and normal white matter, and physical activity was linked to less brain atrophy ... Regular exercise also appeared to protect against the formation of white matter lesions, which are linked to thinking and memory decline"
• Conversion from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia: Influence of Folic Acid and Vitamin B12 Use in the VITA Cohort - J Nutr Health Aging. 2012;16(8):687-94 - "Increased serum homocysteine and low folate levels are associated with a higher rate of conversion to dementia ... The self-reported combined use of folic acid and vitamin B12 for more than one year was associated with a lower conversion rate to dementia. Serum levels of homocysteine and vitamin B12 as measured at baseline or at five years were not associated with conversion. Higher folate levels at baseline in females predicted a lower conversion rate to dementia. The assessment of brain morphological parameters by magnetic resonance imaging revealed higher serum folate at baseline, predicting lower medial temporal lobe atrophy and higher levels of homocysteine at baseline, predicting moderate/severe global brain atrophy at five years. Users of vitamin B12 or folate, independent of time and pattern of use, had lower grades of periventricular hyperintensities and lower grades of deep white matter lesions as compared to non-users" - See folic acid products at Amazon.com and vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Eating lots of carbs, sugar may raise risk of cognitive impairment - Science Daily, 10/16/12 - "People 70 and older who eat food high in carbohydrates have nearly four times the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, and the danger also rises with a diet heavy in sugar, Mayo Clinic researchers have found. Those who consume a lot of protein and fat relative to carbohydrates are less likely to become cognitively impaired ... Researchers tracked 1,230 people ages 70 to 89 who provided information on what they ate during the previous year ... A high carbohydrate intake could be bad for you because carbohydrates impact your glucose and insulin metabolism"
• Caffeine may block inflammation linked to mild cognitive impairment - Science Daily, 10/8/12 - "Freund's team examined the effects of caffeine on memory formation in two groups of mice -- one group given caffeine, the other receiving none. The two groups were then exposed to hypoxia, simulating what happens in the brain during an interruption of breathing or blood flow, and then allowed to recover ... The caffeine-treated mice recovered their ability to form a new memory 33 percent faster than the non-caffeine-treated mice. In fact, caffeine had the same anti-inflammatory effect as blocking IL-1 signaling. IL-1 is a critical player in the inflammation associated with many neurodegenerative diseases ... caffeine blocks all the activity of adenosine and inhibits caspase-1 and the inflammation that comes with it, limiting damage to the brain and protecting it from further injury"
• Vitamin D, cognition, and dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis - Neurology. 2012 Sep 25;79(13):1397-405 - "Thirty-seven studies were included; 8 contained data allowing mean Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores to be compared between participants with vitamin D <50 nmol/L to those with values ≥50 nmol/L. There was significant heterogeneity among the studies that compared the WMD for MMSE but an overall positive effect for the higher vitamin D group (1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.5 to 1.9; I(2) = 0.65; p = 0.002). The small positive effect persisted despite several sensitivity analyses. Six studies presented data comparing Alzheimer disease (AD) to controls but 2 utilized a method withdrawn from commercial use. For the remaining 4 studies the AD group had a lower vitamin D concentration compared to the control group (WMD = -6.2 nmol/L, 95% CI -10.6 to -1.8) with no heterogeneity (I(2) < 0.01; p = 0.53) ... These results suggest that lower vitamin D concentrations are associated with poorer cognitive function and a higher risk of AD" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Melatonin and exercise work against Alzheimer's in mice - Science Daily, 9/26/12 - "The mice were divided into one control group and three other groups which would undergo different treatments: exercise -unrestricted use of a running wheel-, melatonin -a dose equivalent to 10 mg per kg of body weight-, and a combination of melatonin and voluntary physical exercise ... After six months, the state of the mice undergoing treatment was closer to that of the mice with no mutations than to their own initial pathological state. From this we can say that the disease has significantly regressed ... The results, which were published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, show a general improvement in behaviour, learning, and memory with the three treatments ... These procedures also protected the brain tissue from oxidative stress and provided good levels of protection from excesses of amyloid beta peptide and hyperphosphorylated TAU protein caused by the mutations" - Note:  That's a huge amount of melatonin though but then on the other hand it was a short six month period but on the third hand, mice have a much shorter life span so it might interpolate to a much longer time span for humans.  See Source Naturals, Melatonin, 2.5 mg, Peppermint Flavored Sublingual, 60 Tablets which is what I take.
• Higher Free Thyroxine Levels Predict Increased Incidence of Dementia in Older Men: The Health In Men Study - J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Sep 13 - "Men who developed dementia had higher baseline FT(4) (16.5 +/- 2.2 vs. 15.9 +/- 2.2 pmol/liter, P = 0.004) but similar TSH (2.2 +/- 1.4 vs. 2.3 +/- 1.6 mU/liter, P = 0.23) compared with men who did not receive this diagnosis. After adjusting for covariates, higher FT(4) predicted new-onset dementia (11% increased risk per 1 pmol/liter increase in FT(4), P = 0.005; quartiles Q2-4 vs. Q1: adjusted hazard ratio = 1.76, 95% confidence interval = 1.03-3.00, P = 0.04). There was no association between TSH quartiles and incident dementia. When the analysis was restricted to euthyroid men (excluding those with subclinical hyper- or hypothyroidism), higher FT(4) remained associated with incident dementia (11% increase per unit increment, P = 0.03; Q2-4 vs. Q1: adjusted hazard ratio = 2.02, 95% confidence interval = 1.10-3.71, P = 0.024)" - Note:  There is also an association with a low T3/T4 ration and insulin resistance.  I alternate between taking T4 on day and T3 the next.  Doctor's seem to refuse to prescribe both.  See T3 at International Anti-aging Systems.
  • Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance is associated with low T(3)/T(4) ratio in pre diabetic euthyroid pakistani subjects - J Diabetes Complications. 2012 Jul 11 - "Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are associated with low T(3)/T(4) ratio in pre-diabetic euthyroid Pakistani subjects"
• Vitamin C and beta-carotene might protect against dementia - Science Daily, 9/11/12 - "A total of 74 AD-patients and 158 healthy controls were examined for the study that has been published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (JAD) ... The concentration of vitamin C and beta-carotene in the serum of AD-patients was significantly lower than in the blood of control subjects. Whereas no such difference between the groups could be found for the other antioxidants (vitamin E, lycopene, coenzyme Q10)" - See Jarrow Formulas, CarotenALL at Amazon.com and vitamin C at Amazon.com.
• Tocopherols and tocotrienols plasma levels are associated with cognitive impairment - Neurobiol Aging. 2012 Oct;33(10):2282-90 - "Vitamin E includes 8 natural compounds (4 tocopherols, 4 tocotrienols) with potential neuroprotective activity. α-Tocopherol has mainly been investigated in relation to cognitive impairment ... Low plasma tocopherols and tocotrienols levels are associated with increased odds of MCI and AD" - [Nutra USA] - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Brush your teeth! Dental health linked to dementia risk - MSNBC, 8/21/12 - "Inflammation stoked by gum disease-related bacteria is implicated in a host of conditions including heart disease, stroke and diabetes ... It's thought that gum disease bacteria might get into the brain, causing inflammation and brain damage ... followed 5,468 residents of a Californian retirement community from 1992 to 2010. Most people in the study were white, well-educated and relatively affluent. When the study began, participants ranged in age from 52 to 105, with an average age of 81 ... All were free of dementia at the outset, when they answered questions about their dental health habits, the condition of their teeth and whether they wore dentures ... followed up 18 years later ... Of 78 women who said they brushed their teeth less than once a day in 1992, 21 had dementia by 2010, or about one case per 3.7 women ... In comparison, among those who brushed at least once a day, closer to one in every 4.5 women developed dementia which translates to a 65-percent greater chance of dementia among those who brushed less than daily"
• Plasma long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and atrophy of the medial temporal lobe - Neurology. 2012 Aug 1 - "A total of 281 community dwellers from the Three-City Study, aged 65 years or older, had plasma fatty acid measurements at baseline and underwent MRI examinations at baseline and at 4 years. We studied the association between plasma EPA and DHA and MTL gray matter volume change at 4 years ... Higher plasma EPA, but not DHA, was associated with lower gray matter atrophy of the right hippocampal/parahippocampal area and of the right amygdala (p < 0.05, familywise error corrected). Based on a mean right amygdala volume loss of 6.0 mm(3)/y (0.6%), a 1 SD higher plasma EPA (+0.64% of total plasma fatty acids) at baseline was related to a 1.3 mm(3) smaller gray matter loss per year in the right amygdala. Higher atrophy of the right amygdala was associated with greater 4-year decline in semantic memory performances and more depressive symptoms ... The amygdala, which develops neuropathology in the early stage of AD and is involved in the pathogenesis of depression, may be an important brain structure involved in the association between EPA and cognitive decline and depressive symptoms" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.
• Supplement May Aid Vascular Dementia Memory Problems - Medscape, 8/1/12 - "at 9 months, there was a significant difference in Mini–Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores in citicoline users vs nonusers ... A psychostimulant, citicoline has been shown to inhibit brain cell death associated with cerebral ischemia. It has also been shown to inhibit neurodegeneration and is able to increase neuroplasticity and noradrenaline and dopamine levels in the central nervous system ... Those in the active treatment group received oral citicoline at a dose of 500 mg twice a day" - See citicholine at Amazon.com.
• Medical Food Linked to Memory Improvement in Mild Alzheimer's - Medscape, 7/23/12 - "Administration of a medical food designed to improve synaptic dysfunction is associated with continuous memory improvement in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) ... The once-a-day drink contains a patented nutrient combination with the following ingredients: Eicospentaenoic acid, 300 mg ... Docosahexaenoic acid, 1200 mg ... Phospholipids 106 mg ... Choline, 400 mg ... Uridine monophosphate, 625 mg ... Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol equivalents), 40 mg ... Selenium, 60 µg ... Vitamin B12, 3 µg ... Vitamin B6, 1 µg ... Folic acid, 400 µg"
• Gingko biloba extract EGb 761®: clinical data in dementia - Int Psychogeriatr. 2012 Aug;24 Suppl 1:S35-40 - "Research into Gingko biloba extract EGb 761® has been ongoing for many years. Early studies showed that the extract was superior to placebo in improving symptoms of dementia, and this has been confirmed by more recent research. The GINDEM-NP, GOTADAY and GOT-IT! studies showed that 240 mg/day EGb 761® improved cognitive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms, activities of daily living, and quality of life in patients with mild to moderate dementia compared with placebo, with results reproducible in independent trials. The strength of the effect in terms of improvements in neurosensory symptoms associated with old age and dementia was strong enough to be detected by caregivers and independent clinicians. A combination of 240 mg/day EGb 761® and 10 mg/day (initially 5 mg/day) donepezil was also more effective than either drug alone. Regarding the improvement of neuropsychiatric symptoms, a cross-comparison of studies with different antidementia agents suggests that EGb 761® is at least as effective as memantine, galantamine, and donepezil. Safety data revealed no important safety concerns with EGb 761®" - See Ginkgo biloba at Amazon.com.
• Metformin May Help Renew Neurons - Medscape, 7/10/12 - "Animal studies showed that metformin activates a key pathway (aPKC-CBP) that promotes neurogenesis and enhanced hippocampus-dependent spatial memory formation in study animals. Results also showed that the drug has similar activity on human neural precursors, increasing the likelihood that it might enhance neurogenesis in the human brain as well ... compared with mice given a control substance, those treated with metformin had about a third more new neurons in the hippocampus, and almost double the number of new neurons produced by stem cells ... in a spatial learning maze test, mice given metformin (200 mg/kg) were significantly better able to learn the location of a submerged platform compared with those given a sterile saline solution" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• Nutrient mixture improves memory in patients with early Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 7/10/12 - "Wurtman came up with a mixture of three naturally occurring dietary compounds: choline, uridine and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA ... These nutrients are precursors to the lipid molecules that, along with specific proteins, make up brain-cell membranes, which form synapses. To be effective, all three precursors must be administered together ... In animal studies, he showed that his dietary cocktail boosted the number of dendritic spines, or small outcroppings of neural membranes, found in brain cells. These spines are necessary to form new synapses between neurons ... 40 percent of patients who consumed the drink improved in a test of verbal memory, while 24 percent of patients who received the control drink improved their performance ... Patients, whether taking Souvenaid or a placebo, improved their verbal-memory performance for the first three months, but the placebo patients deteriorated during the following three months, while the Souvenaid patients continued to improve ... as the trial went on, the brains of patients receiving the supplements started to shift from patterns typical of dementia to more normal patterns. Because EEG patterns reflect synaptic activity, this suggests that synaptic function increased following treatment, the researchers say" - Avoid the patent mark-up.  See citicholine at Amazon.com, uridine at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Diabetes drug may someday repair Alzheimer's damage - MSNBC, 7/6/12 - "The diabetes medication was intended to target a specific pathway in liver cells. In the new study, researchers found that the drug activated that same pathway in brain cells, prompting new cell growth ... The new cells that are produced could help to repair the effects of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease ... new brain cells grew in both living mice and in human brain cell cultures growing in lab dishes. They are now working to set up clinical trials ... A 2008 study found that patients with both diabetes and Alzheimer’s who began taking metformin experienced improvements in their Alzheimer's symptoms after starting on the drug" - See metformin at The Antiaging Store.
• High blood caffeine levels in older adults linked to avoidance of Alzheimer’s disease - Science Daily, 6/4/12 - "The collaborative study involved 124 people, ages 65 to 88, in Tampa and Miami ... These intriguing results suggest that older adults with mild memory impairment who drink moderate levels of coffee -- about 3 cups a day -- will not convert to Alzheimer's disease -- or at least will experience a substantial delay before converting to Alzheimer's ... The results from this study, along with our earlier studies in Alzheimer's mice, are very consistent in indicating that moderate daily caffeine/coffee intake throughout adulthood should appreciably protect against Alzheimer's disease later in life ... We found that 100 percent of the MCI patients with plasma caffeine levels above the critical level experienced no conversion to Alzheimer's disease during the two-to-four year follow-up period ... In addition to Alzheimer's disease, moderate caffeine/coffee intake appears to reduce the risk of several other diseases of aging, including Parkinson's disease, stroke, Type II diabetes, and breast cancer"
• Greater purpose in life may protect against harmful changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease - Science Daily, 5/7/12 - "These findings suggest that purpose in life protects against the harmful effects of plaques and tangles on memory and other thinking abilities. This is encouraging and suggests that engaging in meaningful and purposeful activities promotes cognitive health in old age ... The Rush Memory and Aging Project, which began in 1997, is a longitudinal clinical-pathological study of common chronic conditions of aging. Participants are older persons recruited from about 40 continuous care retirement communities and senior subsidized housing facilities in and around the Chicago Metropolitan area"
• Biosynthetic grape-derived compound prevents progression of Alzheimer’s disease in animal model - Science Daily, 5/1/12 - "Polyphenols, which occur naturally in grapes, fruits, and vegetables, have been shown to prevent the cognitive decline associated with AD in a mouse model, but the molecules are very complex and are extensively metabolized in the body. This is the first study to determine which specific subfraction of these molecules penetrates the animal brain, and demonstrate that a drug compound similar to polyphenols can exert similar bioactivities ... Dr. Pasinetti's team analyzed the structure of this polyphenol by nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and recreated it biosynthetically in the laboratory. Dr. Pasinetti and his collaborators discovered that the synthetic polyphenol generated in the laboratory also promoted plasticity and benefits in learning and memory functions in the brains of the mice" - Note:  Sounds like a way to get rich off a patent when the original natural version is probably better in the first place. - See grape seed extract at Amazon.com.
• Eating fish, chicken, nuts may lower risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 5/2/12 - "A new study suggests that eating foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish, chicken, salad dressing and nuts, may be associated with lower blood levels of a protein related to Alzheimer's disease and memory problems ... 1,219 people older than age 65, free of dementia, provided information about their diet for an average of 1.2 years before their blood was tested for the beta-amyloid. Researchers looked specifically at 10 nutrients, including saturated fatty acids, omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, mono-unsaturated fatty acid, vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, vitamin B12, folate and vitamin D ... the more omega-3 fatty acids a person took in, the lower their blood beta-amyloid levels. Consuming one gram of omega-3 per day (equal to approximately half a fillet of salmon per week) more than the average omega-3 consumed by people in the study is associated with 20 to 30 percent lower blood beta-amyloid levels ... Other nutrients were not associated with plasma beta-amyloid levels" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Higher Vitamin D Dietary Intake Is Associated With Lower Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: A 7-Year Follow-up - J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2012 Apr 13 - "Women who developed AD (n = 70) had lower baseline vitamin D intakes (mean, 50.3 +/- 19.3 μg/wk) than nondemented (n = 361; mean intake = 59.0 +/- 29.9 μg/wk, p = .027) or those who developed other dementias (n = 67; mean intake = 63.6 +/- 38.1 μg/wk, p = .010). There was no difference between other dementias and no dementia (p = .247). Baseline vitamin D dietary intakes were associated with the onset of AD (adjusted odds ratio = 0.99 [95% confidence interval = 0.98-0.99], p = .041) but not with other dementias (p = .071). Being in the highest quintile of vitamin D dietary intakes was associated with a lower risk of AD compared with the lower 4 quintiles combined (adjusted odds ratio = 0.23 [95% confidence interval = 0.08-0.67], p = .007) ... Higher vitamin D dietary intake was associated with a lower risk of developing AD among older women" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Does Lithium Prevent Alzheimer's Disease? - Drugs Aging. 2012 Apr 14 - "Lithium salts have a well-established role in the treatment of major affective disorders. More recently, experimental and clinical studies have provided evidence that lithium may also exert neuroprotective effects. In animal and cell culture models, lithium has been shown to increase neuronal viability through a combination of mechanisms that includes the inhibition of apoptosis, regulation of autophagy, increased mitochondrial function, and synthesis of neurotrophic factors. In humans, lithium treatment has been associated with humoral and structural evidence of neuroprotection, such as increased expression of anti-apoptotic genes, inhibition of cellular oxidative stress, synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), cortical thickening, increased grey matter density, and hippocampal enlargement ... A recent placebo-controlled clinical trial in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) showed that long-term lithium treatment may actually slow the progression of cognitive and functional deficits, and also attenuate Tau hyperphosphorylation in the MCI-AD continuum" - See lithium supplement at Amazon.com.
• Japanese traditional therapy, honokiol, blocks key protein in inflammatory brain damage, study suggests - Science Daily, 3/19/12 - "honokiol (HNK) is able to down-regulate the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammatory enzymes in activated microglia via Klf4, a protein known to regulate DNA ... HNK can easily move across the blood brain barrier and we found that HNK reduced levels of pNF-kb and Klf4 as well as the number of activated microglia in the brains of LPS treated mice" - Note:  Relora (honokiol) is also purported to lower cortisol.  See Relora at Amazon.com.
• Scientists pinpoint how vitamin D may help clear amyloid plaques found in Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 3/6/12 - "vitamin D3 may activate key genes and cellular signaling networks to help stimulate the immune system to clear the amyloid-beta protein ... in both Type I and Type II macrophages, the added 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 played a key role in opening a specific chloride channel called "chloride channel 3 (CLC3)," which is important in supporting the uptake of amyloid beta through the process known as phagocytosis. Curcuminoids activated this chloride channel only in Type I macrophages ... The scientists also found that 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 strongly helped trigger the genetic transcription of the chloride channel and the receptor for 1a,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in Type II macrophages" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids Help Brain Age Better - WebMD, 2/27/12 - "the results suggest diets lacking in omega-3 fatty acids may cause the brain to age faster ... people whose DHA levels were in the bottom 25% of the group had lower brain volumes compared with people with higher DHA levels ... In addition, people with both low DHA and all the other omega-3 fatty acid levels scored lower on tests of visual memory, processing, and abstract thinking ... Researchers say the results suggest that low DHA and other omega-3 fatty acid levels are associated with a pattern of memory and brain function problems even in people free of dementia" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Mediterranean Diet May Protect Brain - WebMD, 2/13/12 - "white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) ... WMHV is an indicator of small blood vessel damage in the brain and is detected by magnetic resonance screening (MRI) ... researchers compared the brain scans and diets of 966 adults with an average age of 72 ... those who most closely followed a Mediterranean diet had a lower measure of WMHV than those who did not. Each increase in the Mediterranean diet score was associated with a corresponding decrease in white matter hyperintensity volume score ... the aspect of the Mediterranean diet that seemed to matter most was the ratio of monounsaturated fat to saturated fat"
• More vitamin E linked to better mental function: Study - Nutra USA, 1/11/12 - "Alzheimer patients were 85% less likely to have the highest levels of vitamin E, compared with people with normal cognitive function ... There are eight forms of vitamin E: four tocopherols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) and four tocotrienols (alpha, beta, gamma, delta) ... the new study is said to be the first to evaluate all the forms of vitamin E in relation to Alzheimer’s disease ... Consumers should be taking a full spectrum vitamin E especially for improving/ preserving cognitive health and performance" - [Abstract] - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com.
• Alzheimer's: Diet patterns may keep brain from shrinking - Science Daily, 12/29/11 - "People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients ... Those with diets high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients ... people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Antioxidant has potential in the Alzheimer's fight - Science Daily, 12/14/11 - "When you cut an apple and leave it out, it turns brown. Squeeze the apple with lemon juice, an antioxidant, and the process slows down ... Simply put, that same "browning" process-known as oxidative stress-happens in the brain as Alzheimer's disease sets in ... an antioxidant can delay the onset of all the indicators of Alzheimer's disease, including cognitive decline. The researchers administered an antioxidant compound called MitoQ to mice genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's. The results of their study were published in the Nov. 2 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience ... Oxidative stress is believed to cause neurons in the brain to die, resulting in Alzheimer's ... The brain consumes 20 percent of the oxygen in the body even though it only makes up 5 percent of the volume, so it's particularly susceptible to oxidative stress ... MitoQ selectively accumulates in the mitochondria" - Note:  I couldn't find the ingredients but it sounds like a form of co-enzyme Q10.  Here's the form I take: ubiquinol products at Amazon.com
  • Antipodean Pharmaceuticals - MitoQ Technology
• Eating fish reduces risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 11/30/11 - "This is the first study to establish a direct relationship between fish consumption, brain structure and Alzheimer's risk ... people who consumed baked or broiled fish at least one time per week had better preservation of gray matter volume on MRI in brain areas at risk for Alzheimer's disease ... Each patient underwent 3-D volumetric MRI of the brain. Voxel-based morphometry, a brain mapping technique that measures gray matter volume, was used to model the relationship between weekly fish consumption at baseline and brain structure 10 years later ... consumption of baked or broiled fish on a weekly basis was positively associated with gray matter volumes in several areas of the brain. Greater hippocampal, posterior cingulate and orbital frontal cortex volumes in relation to fish consumption reduced the risk for five-year decline to MCI or Alzheimer's by almost five-fold ... Consuming baked or broiled fish promotes stronger neurons in the brain's gray matter by making them larger and health"
• B vitamins may slow cognitive decline: Oxford University study - Nutra USA, 10/25/11 - "A daily combination of folic acid, and vitamins B6 and B12 was associated with a 30% reduction in levels of the amino acid homocysteine, and improvements in a range of mental tests, including global cognition and episodic memory ... One interpretation [of the data] is that lowering homocysteine concentrations by administering B vitamins slows brain atrophy, which in turn slows both cognitive and clinical decline ... The Vitacog study involved 266 people over the age of 70 with diagnosed mild cognitive impairment. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or a B vitamin supplement providing 0.8 mg per day of folic acid, 0.5 mg of vitamin B12 and 20 mg of vitamin B6" - [Abstract]
• Vitamin B12, cognition, and brain MRI measures: A cross-sectional examination - Neurology. 2011 Sep 27;77(13):1276-82 - "Concentrations of all vitamin B12-related markers, but not serum vitamin B12 itself, were associated with global cognitive function and with total brain volume. Methylmalonate levels were associated with poorer episodic memory and perceptual speed, and cystathionine and 2-methylcitrate with poorer episodic and semantic memory. Homocysteine concentrations were associated with decreased total brain volume. The homocysteine-global cognition effect was modified and no longer statistically significant with adjustment for white matter volume or cerebral infarcts. The methylmalonate-global cognition effect was modified and no longer significant with adjustment for total brain volume ... Methylmalonate, a specific marker of B12 deficiency, may affect cognition by reducing total brain volume whereas the effect of homocysteine (nonspecific to vitamin B12 deficiency) on cognitive performance may be mediated through increased white matter hyperintensity and cerebral infarcts. Vitamin B12 status may affect the brain through multiple mechanisms" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Low vitamin B12 levels may lead to brain shrinkage, cognitive problems - Science Daily, 9/26/11 - "Older people with low blood levels of vitamin B12 markers may be more likely to have lower brain volumes and have problems with their thinking skills ... An average of four-and-a-half years later, MRI scans of the participants' brains were taken to measure total brain volume and look for other signs of brain damage ... Having high levels of four of five markers for vitamin B12 deficiency was associated with having lower scores on the cognitive tests and smaller total brain volume ... On the cognitive tests, the scores ranged from -2.18 to 1.42, with an average of 0.23. For each increase of one micromole per liter of homocysteine -- one of the markers of B12 deficiency -- the cognitive scores decreasedby 0.03 standardized units or points" - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Omega-3 may ease depression symptoms, slash dementia risk: RCT - Nutra USA, 9/23/11 - "recruited 50 people over the age of 65 to participate in their six-month double-blind, randomized controlled trial ... Participants received daily supplements of EPA- or DHA-rich fish oil, or the omega-6 linoleic acid (LA, 2.2 grams per day). The EPA-rich supplement provided 1.67 grams of EPA and 0.16 grams of DHA, while the DHA-rich supplement provided 1.55 grams of DHA and 0.40 grams of EPA ... compared with the group receiving the LA supplements, the EPA-rich supplement group displayed higher scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale ... On the other hand, the DHA group displayed improvements in verbal fluency ... These results indicate that DHA-rich and EPA-rich fish oils may be effective for depressive symptoms and health parameters, exerting variable effects on cognitive and physical outcomes" - [Abstract] - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Aerobic exercise may reduce the risk of dementia, researchers say - Science Daily, 9/7/11 - "Researchers examined the role of aerobic exercise in preserving cognitive abilities and concluded that it should not be overlooked as an important therapy against dementia ... Examples include walking, gym workouts and activities at home such as shoveling snow or raking leaves ... We culled through all the scientific literature we could find on the subject of exercise and cognition, including animal studies and observational studies, reviewing over 1,600 papers, with 130 bearing directly on this issue ... brain imaging studies have consistently revealed objective evidence of favorable effects of exercise on human brain integrity"
• Natural Alzheimer's-fighting compound created inexpensively in lab - Science Daily, 8/25/11 - "Until now, researchers have only been able to derive small amounts of the compound directly from the Huperzia serrata plant, or had to resort to lengthy and cumbersome methods to synthesize it in the lab ... Now researchers at Yale have developed a practical and cost-effective method to synthesize huperzine A in the lab. The process requires just eight steps and produces a yield of 40 percent. Previously, the best synthetic techniques had required twice as many steps and achieved yields of only two percent ... In addition, the Herzon lab and the firm are working with the U.S. Army, which is interested in huperzine A's potential in blocking the effects of chemical warfare agents ... Other Alzheimer's treatments based on enzyme inhibitors are currently prescribed in the U.S., but huperzine A binds better, is more easily absorbed by the body and last longer in the body than other treatments ... We believe huperzine A has the potential to treat a range of neurologic disorders more effectively than the current options available" - See huperzine at Amazon.com.
• Treatment with vitamin C dissolves toxic protein aggregates in Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 8/18/11 - "The brains of people with Alzheimer's disease contain lumps of so-called amyloid plaques which consist of misfolded protein aggregates. They cause nerve cell death in the brain and the first nerves to be attacked are the ones in the brain's memory centre ... When we treated brain tissue from mice suffering from Alzheimer's disease with vitamin C, we could see that the toxic protein aggregates were dissolved ... The notion that vitamin C can have a positive effect on Alzheimer's disease is controversial, but our results open up new opportunities for research into Alzheimer's and the possibilities offered by vitamin C" - See vitamin C products at Amazon.com.
• Fish oil's impact on cognition and brain structure identified in new study - Science Daily, 8/17/11 - "Researchers at Rhode Island Hospital's Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center have found positive associations between fish oil supplements and cognitive functioning as well as differences in brain structure between users and non-users of fish oil supplements ... compared to non-users, use of fish oil supplements was associated with better cognitive functioning during the study. However, this association was significant only in those individuals who had a normal baseline cognitive function and in individuals who tested negative for a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's Disease known as APOE4. This is consistent with previous research ... The unique finding, however, is that there was a clear association between fish oil supplements and brain volume ... In other words, fish oil use was associated with less brain shrinkage in patients taking these supplements during the ADNI study compared to those who didn't report using them" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Natural chemical found in grapes may protect against Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 7/16/11 - "grape seed polyphenols -- a natural antioxidant -- may help prevent the development or delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease ... This is the first study to evaluate the ability of grape-derived polyphenols to prevent the generation of a specific form of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide, a substance in the brain long known to cause the neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer disease ... administered grape seed polyphenolic extracts to mice genetically determined to develop memory deficits and Aβ neurotoxins similar to those found in Alzheimer's disease. They found that the brain content of the Aβ*56, a specific form of Aβ previously implicated in the promotion of Alzheimer's disease memory loss, was substantially reduced after treatment" - See grape seed extract at Amazon.com.
• The Body Odd - Coffee buzz protects brain from Alzheimer's - MSNBC, 6/29/11 - "the equivalent of four to five cups of caffeinated coffee every few days led to much improved memories in the Alzheimer’s mice ... Earlier research by Arendash and his colleagues showed that caffeine could at least partially block the production of beta amyloid, the sticky protein that clogs the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. They also found that a substance called granulocyte-colony stimulating factor, or GCSF, sparked the production of new axons, the communication cables that link nerve cells together, as well as new nerve cells themselves"
• Lithium profoundly prevents brain damage associated with Parkinson's disease, mouse study suggests - Science Daily, 6/24/11 - "lithium has recently been suggested to be neuroprotective in relation to several neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and has been touted for its anti-aging properties in simple animals" - See lithium supplements at Amazon.com.
• Nutritional Supplement Boosts Cognition in Healthy Women - Medscape, 6/21/11 - "Citicoline, a naturally occurring substance found in the brain and liver and marketed as a nutritional supplement, enhanced aspects of cognition in healthy women and may have a role in mitigating the cognitive decline associated with normal aging ... It may also improve the attention deficits associated with psychiatric disorders ... The women were divided into 3 groups of 20 and randomly assigned to receive a daily oral citicoline dose of 250 mg (low dose) or 500 mg (high dose) or placebo for 28 days ... participants who received low- or high-dose citicoline showed improved attention, demonstrating fewer commission and omission errors on the CPT-II compared with the placebo group" - See citicholine at Amazon.com.
• Mystery ingredient in coffee boosts protection against Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 6/21/11 - "A yet unidentified component of coffee interacts with the beverage's caffeine, which could be a surprising reason why daily coffee intake protects against Alzheimer's disease. A new Alzheimer's mouse study by researchers at the University of South Florida found that this interaction boosts blood levels of a critical growth factor that seems to fight off the Alzheimer's disease process ... The new study does not diminish the importance of caffeine to protect against Alzheimer's. Rather it shows that caffeinated coffee induces an increase in blood levels of a growth factor called GCSF (granulocyte colony stimulating factor). GCSF is a substance greatly decreased in patients with Alzheimer's disease and demonstrated to improve memory in Alzheimer's mice ... The boost in GCSF levels is important, because the researchers also reported that long-term treatment with coffee (but not decaffeinated coffee) enhances memory in Alzheimer's mice. Higher blood GCSF levels due to coffee intake were associated with better memory ... First, GCSF recruits stem cells from bone marrow to enter the brain and remove the harmful beta-amyloid protein that initiates the disease. GCSF also creates new connections between brain cells and increases the birth of new neurons in the brain ... An increasing body of scientific literature indicates that moderate consumption of coffee decreases the risk of several diseases of aging, including Parkinson's disease, Type II diabetes and stroke"
• Fatty Acids and Cognitive Decline in Women - Medscape, 6/13/11 - "In this cohort of older women, greater MUFA intake was associated with less cognitive decline over a 3-year period. Previous studies generally but not invariably support this association. One previous prospective study found greater dietary MUFA intake to be associated with less cognitive decline,[10] a second found a trend in the same direction,[9] a third found a trend in the same direction in restricted analyses,[6] and three others were null.[7,8,11] None of the null studies had multiple measures of diet; one assessed diet using a measure of fatty acid composition of erythrocyte membranes,[7] but that study assessed cognitive decline exclusively using the Mini-Mental State Examination, which is probably not as sensitive as the neuropsychological test battery used in this study ... MUFA is thought to be one of the major protective components of the traditional Mediterranean diet, in which it is derived primarily from olive oil (median 46 g/d).[10] Two recent prospective studies of the Mediterranean diet have found greater adherence to be associated with less cognitive decline and lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD).[31,32] One of these studies found an effect of the Mediterranean diet on an individual cognitive domain, namely memory.[31] This finding is consistent with the observed protective effect of MUFA on memory in the WHI CCW. In addition, the current study found an association between MUFA and less decline in visual–spatial abilities (copying and matching), a finding not previously made to the knowledge of the authors of the current study. Decline in visuospatial function has been associated with driving errors in older adults[33] and has also been suggested as a potential predictor (along with amnestic impairment) of transition from mild cognitive impairment to AD ... Several pathways may explain the apparent relationship between MUFA intake and cognitive function. MUFA and MUFA derivatives have antiinflammatory effects in vivo,[35,36] which may be important because chronic inflammation appears to be a precursor of symptomatic AD.[37–39] Oxidative stress has also been demonstrated in patients with mild cognitive impairment and AD,[40] and derivatives from MUFA, including low-molecular-weight phenols, have been found to have antioxidant effects.[41] MUFA may also exert their potentially beneficial effects on cognition indirectly by decreasing cardiovascular risk by reducing macrophage uptake of plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein, apolipoprotein B, and f triglycerides" - Click here for my olive oil mayonnaise recipe.
• Naturally occurring plant alkaloids could slow down Alzheimer's disease, study suggests - Science Daily, 5/26/11 - "Beta-carboline alkaloids could potentially be used in therapeutic drugs to stop, or at least slow down, the progressively debilitating effects of Alzheimer's ... Beta-carboline alkaloids are found in a number of medicinal plants. They have antioxidant properties, and have been shown to protect brain cells from excessive stimulation of neurotransmitters. "(They) are natural occurring compounds in some plant species that affect multiple central nervous system targets,""
• Moderate exercise dramatically improves brain blood flow in elderly women - Science Daily, 4/12/11 - "it's never too late for women to reap the benefits of moderate aerobic exercise. In a 3-month study of 16 women age 60 and older, brisk walking for 30-50 minutes three or four times per week improved blood flow through to the brain as much as 15% ... At study's end, the team measured blood flow in the women's carotid arteries again and found that cerebral blood flow increased an average of 15% and 11% in the women's left and right internal carotid arteries, respectively. The women's VO2 max increased roughly 13%, their blood pressure dropped an average of 4%, and their heart rates decreased approximately 5% ... A steady, healthy flow of blood to the brain achieves two things. First, the blood brings oxygen, glucose and other nutrients to the brain, which are vital for the brain's health. Second, the blood washes away brain metabolic wastes such as amyloid-beta protein released into the brain's blood vessels. Amyloid-beta protein has been implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease"
• Docosahexaenoic Acid reduces amyloid {beta} production via multiple, pleiotropic mechanism - J Biol Chem. 2011 Feb 15 - "Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by accumulation of the amyloidogenic peptide Aβ generated by β- and γ-secretase processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). The intake of the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has been associated with decreased amyloid deposition and a reduced risk in AD in several epidemiological trials; however the exact underlying molecular mechanism remains to be elucidated ... DHA reduces amyloidogenic processing by decreasing β- and γ-secretase activity, whereas the expression and protein levels of BACE1 and Presenilin1 remain unchanged. In addition, DHA increases protein stability of α-secretase resulting in increased non-amyloidogenic processing. Beside the known effect of DHA to decrease cholesterol de novo synthesis, we found cholesterol distribution in plasma membrane to be altered. In presence of DHA, cholesterol shifts from raft to non-raft domains, which is accompanied by a shift in γ-secretase activity and Presenilin1 protein level. Taken together, DHA directs amyloidogenic processing of APP towards non-amyloidogenic processing, effectively reducing Aβ release. DHA has a typical pleiotropic effect; DHA-mediated Aβ reduction is not the consequence of a single major mechanism, but the result of combined multiple effects" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Good diets fight bad Alzheimer's genes: Diets high in fish oil have a beneficial effect in patients at risk, researcher says - Science Daily, 2/15/11 - "APOE comes in two forms, a "good" APOE gene and a "bad" APOE gene, called APOE4. He has developed animal models to investigate the effects of diet and environment on carriers of APOE4, the presence of which is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's. It appears in 50% of all Alzheimer's patients, and in 15% of the general population which due to APOE4 is the population which is at risk of getting the disease ... The good news? In preliminary results, the researchers are exhilarated to find that a diet high in Omega 3 oils and low in cholesterol appears to significantly reduce the negative effects of the APOE4 gene in mouse models" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com and Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Protective properties of green tea uncovered - Science Daily, 1/5/11 - "Regularly drinking green tea could protect the brain against developing Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia" - See green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Higher HDL-C Levels May Curb Alzheimer's Disease Risk - Medscape, 12/16/10 - "There was a definite threshold effect, the researchers say, with a clear reduction in AD risk for people in the highest HDL-C level quartile (>56 mg/dL) ... these analyses were limited by the small number of cases of vascular dementia (n = 16) ... the current study linking higher HDL-C to a lower risk for incident dementia contrast with a prior study by the same researchers. This earlier study involved 1168 participants recruited from the same community in 1992 – 1994 and showed no association between HDL-C and AD ... Compared with the 1992 – 1994 cohort, the 1999 – 2001 cohort had a higher proportion of subjects receiving lipid-lowering treatment (23.4% vs 14.5%), higher mean HDL-C levels (48.3 vs 47.2 mg/dL), and fewer individuals who smoked (9.4% vs 10.6%) and had heart disease (18.8% vs 34.1%)"
• High levels of 'good' cholesterol may be associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 12/13/10 - "The researchers defined higher levels of HDL cholesterol as 55 milligrams per deciliter or more ... higher levels of HDL cholesterol were associated with a decreased risk of both probable and possible Alzheimer's disease"
• Blueberries and other purple fruits to ward off Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's - Science Daily, 12/7/10 - "Eating purple fruits such as blueberries and drinking green tea can help ward off diseases including Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's ... the majority of debilitating illnesses are in part caused by poorly-bound iron which causes the production of dangerous toxins that can react with the components of living systems ... These toxins, called hydroxyl radicals, cause degenerative diseases of many kinds in different parts of the body ... In order to protect the body from these dangerous varieties of poorly-bound iron, it is vital to take on nutrients, known as iron chelators, which can bind the iron tightly" - See blueberry extract at Amazon.com and green tea extract at Amazon.com.
• Chronic high cholesterol diet produces brain damage - Science Daily, 11/24/10 - "chronic high fat cholesterol diet in rats exhibited pathologies similar to Alzheimer's disease ... A third hypothesis suggests that chronic long-lasting mild cerebrovascular damage, including inflammatory processes and oxidative stress, may cause Alzheimer's disease ... chronic hypercholesterolemia [in rats] caused memory impairment, cholinergic dysfunction, inflammation, enhanced cortical beta-amyloid and tau and induced microbleedings, all indications, which resemble an Alzheimer's disease-like pathology"
• Homocysteine and holotranscobalamin and the risk of Alzheimer disease: A longitudinal study - Neurology. 2010 Oct 19;75(16):1408-14 - "homocysteine (tHcy) and holotranscobalamin (holoTC), the active fraction of vitamin B12 ... The odds ratios (ORs) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for AD were 1.16 (1.04-1.31) per increase of 1 μmol/L of tHcy at baseline and 0.980 (0.965-0.995) for each increase of 1 pmol/L baseline holoTC ... This study suggests that both tHcy and holoTC may be involved in the development of AD. The tHcy-AD link may be partly explained by serum holoTC. The role of holoTC in AD should be further investigated"
• Vitamin B12 May Curb Risk for Alzheimer's Disease - Medscape, 10/18/10 - "holotranscobalamin (holoTC), the biologically active fraction of vitamin B12 ... for each 1-µmol/L increase in the baseline concentration of tHcy, the risk for AD increased by 16% (odds ratio [OR], 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 – 1.31). On the other hand, for each 1-pmol/L increase in baseline holoTC, the risk for AD was reduced by 2% (OR, 0.980; 95% CI, 0.965 – 0.995)" - [Science Daily] - See vitamin B12 at Amazon.com.
• Subclinical Zinc Deficiency in Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease - Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2010 Sep 14 - "Results showed a significantly lower blood zinc in patients with Alzheimer's and patients with Parkinson's than in controls. Urine zinc excretion, normalized to urine creatinine excretion, was not significantly different in either patient group compared to controls. These patients are probably zinc deficient because of nutritional inadequacy" - Note:  Zinc interferes with copper and too much zinc can cause a deficiency of copper.  See Jarrow Zinc Balance at Amazon.com.
• B vitamins slow brain atrophy in people with memory problems - Science Daily, 9/12/10 - "on average the brains of those taking the folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 treatment shrank at a rate of 0.76% a year, while those in the placebo group had a mean brain shrinkage rate of 1.08%. People with the highest levels of homocysteine benefited most, showing atrophy rates on treatment that were half of those on placebo"
• Vitamin B is revolutionary new weapon against Alzheimer's Disease telegraph.co.uk, 9/9/10 - "Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) – a kind of memory loss and forgetfulness – and Alzheimer's ... On average, taking B vitamins slowed the rate of brain atrophy by 30 per cent, and in many cases reductions was as high as 53 per cent were seen"
• Vitamin B may help prevent Alzheimer’s - Nutra USA, 9/9/10 - "The authors concluded that an accelerated rate of brain atrophy in elderly people with mild cognitive impairment could be slowed via dietary supplementation with homocysteine-lowering B vitamins"
• Vitamin D status and measures of cognitive function in healthy older European adults - Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010 Aug 11 - "Serum 25(OH)D was significantly and inversely correlated with four assessments within the spatial working memory (SWM) test parameter (SWM between errors (r=-0.166; P=0.003); SWM between errors 8 boxes (r=-0.134; P=0.038); SWM strategy (r=-0.246; P<0.0001); and SWM total errors (r=-0.174; P<0.003)). When subjects were stratified on the basis of tertiles (T) of serum 25(OH)D (<47.6 (T(1)); 47.6-85.8 (T(2)); and >85.8 (T(3)) nmol/l), fewer errors in SWM test scores occurred in subjects in the third T when compared with the first T (P<0.05-0.084). Stratification by sex showed that these differences between tertiles strengthened (P<0.001-0.043) in the females, but the differences were not significant (P>0.6) in males.Conclusions:Vitamin D insufficiency, but not deficiency, is widespread in the older population of several European countries. Low vitamin D status was associated with a reduced capacity for SWM, particularly in women" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Natural substance NT-020 aids aging brains in rats, study finds - Science Daily, 7/20/10 - "Aging has been linked to oxidative stress, and we have previously shown that natural compounds made from blueberries, green tea, and amino acids, such as carnosine, are high in antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative activity .... The combination of these nutrients, called NT-020, creates a synergistic effect that promotes the proliferation of stem cells in the aged animals ... NT-020 may have not only a positive effect on the stem cell niche ... NT-020 may have far-reaching effects on organ function beyond the replacement of injured cells, as demonstrated by cognitive improvement in the NT-020 group"
• Low vitamin D levels associated with cognitive decline - Science Daily, 7/12/10 - "An estimated 40 percent to 100 percent of older adults in the United States and Europe are deficient in vitamin D ... Participants who were severely deficient in vitamin D (having blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D of less than 25 nanomoles per liter) were 60 percent more likely to have substantial cognitive decline in general over the six-year period and 31 percent more likely to experience declines on the test measuring executive function than those with sufficient vitamin D levels" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Sirtuin1 may boost memory and learning ability; Discovery could lead to new drugs to fight Alzheimer's, other neurological diseases - Science Daily, 7/11/10 - "Resveratrol, found in wine, has been touted as a life-span enhancer because it activates a group of enzymes known as sirtuins, which have gained fame in recent years for their ability to slow the aging process. Now MIT researchers report that Sirtuin1 -- a protein that in humans is encoded by the SIRT1 gene -- also promotes memory and brain flexibility ... We have now found that SIRT1 activity also promotes plasticity and memory" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• High blood levels of vitamin E reduces risk of Alzheimer's, Swedish study finds - Science Daily, 7/7/10 - "High levels of several vitamin E components in the blood are associated with a decreased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in advanced age, suggesting that vitamin E may help prevent cognitive deterioration in elderly people. This is the conclusion reached in a Swedish study ... Vitamin E is a family of eight natural components, but most studies related to Alzheimer's disease investigate only one of these components, +/--tocopherol ... We hypothesized that all the vitamin E family members could be important in protecting against AD ... subjects with higher blood levels of all the vitamin E family forms had a reduced risk of developing AD, compared to subjects with lower levels. After adjusting for various confounders, the risk was reduced by 45-54%, depending on the vitamin E component" - See Jarrow FamilE (contains all eight members of the vitamin E family, includes Tocomin) at Amazon.com
• Compound found in red wine neutralizes toxicity of proteins related to Alzheimer's - Science Daily, 6/22/10 - "An organic compound found in red wine -- resveratrol -- has the ability to neutralize the toxic effects of proteins linked to Alzheimer's disease ... this molecule can target some of these packing arrangements that are toxic and rearrange them into packing arrangements that are not toxic. For those forms that are non-toxic, it doesn't change them" - See resveratrol products at Amazon.com.
• Alcohol consumption may protect against risk of Alzheimer's disease, particularly in female nonsmokers, study finds 0 Science Daily, 5/24/10
• Caffeine may slow Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, restore cognitive function, according to new evidence - Science Daily, 5/17/10 - "Key findings ... Multiple beneficial effects of caffeine to normalize brain function and prevent its degeneration ... Caffeine's neuroprotective profile and its ability to reduce amyloid-beta production ... Caffeine as a candidate disease-modifying agent for Alzheimer's disease ... Positive impact of caffeine on cognition and memory performance ... Identification of adenosine A2A receptors as the main target for neuroprotection afforded by caffeine consumption ... Confirmation of data through valuable meta-analyses presented ... Epidemiological studies corroborated by meta-analysis suggesting that caffeine may be protective against Parkinson's disease"
• Low Vitamin D Level Tied to Cognitive Decline - WebMD, 4/16/10 - "Two new studies add to evidence that older people with low levels of vitamin D may be more likely to suffer from cognitive impairment. ... Results showed that the lower their score on the test, the lower their vitamin D levels" - See vitamin D at Amazon.com.
• Exercise Plays a Preventive Role Against Alzheimer's Disease - J Alzheimers Dis. 2010 Feb 24 - "Regular physical activity increases the endurance of cells and tissues to oxidative stress, vascularization, energy metabolism, and neurotrophin synthesis, all important in neurogenesis, memory improvement, and brain plasticity. Although extensive studies are required to understand the mechanism, it is clear that physical exercise is beneficial in the prevention of AD and other age-associated neurodegenerative disorders"
• Caffeine Intake is Associated with a Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline: A Cohort Study from Portugal - J Alzheimers Dis. 2010 Feb 24 - "Caffeine intake (> 62 mg/day [3rd third] vs. < 22 mg/day [1st third]) was associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline in women (RR=0.49, 95%CI 0.24-0.97), but not significantly in men (RR=0.65, 95%CI 0.27-1.54)" - Note:  I don't know how they determine that 0.65 isn't significant.
• Caffeine as a Protective Factor in Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease - J Alzheimers Dis. 2010 Feb 24 - "In the CAIDE study, coffee drinking of 3-5 cups per day at midlife was associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD by about 65% at late-life. In conclusion, coffee drinking may be associated with a decreased risk of dementia/AD. This may be mediated by caffeine and/or other mechanisms like antioxidant capacity and increased insulin sensitivity. This finding might open possibilities for prevention or postponing the onset of dementia/AD"
• DHA May Prevent Age-Related Dementia - J Nutr. 2010 Feb 24 - "DHA is pleiotropic, acting at multiple steps to reduce the production of the beta-amyloid peptide, widely believed to initiate AD. DHA moderates some of the kinases that hyperphosphorylate the tau-protein, a component of the neurofibrillary tangle. DHA may help suppress insulin/neurotrophic factor signaling deficits, neuroinflammation, and oxidative damage that contribute to synaptic loss and neuronal dysfunction in dementia. Finally, DHA increases brain levels of neuroprotective brain-derived neurotrophic factor and reduces the (n-6) fatty acid arachidonate and its prostaglandin metabolites that have been implicated in promoting AD. Clinical trials suggest that DHA or fish oil alone can slow early stages of progression, but these effects may be apolipoprotein E genotype specific, and larger trials with very early stages are required to prove efficacy. We advocate early intervention in a prodromal period with nutrigenomically defined subjects with an appropriately designed nutritional supplement, including DHA and antioxidants" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Docosahexaenoic Acid Deficiency and Prefrontal Cortex Neuropathology in Recurrent Affective Disorders - J Nutr. 2010 Feb 10 - "Increasing evidence suggests that docosahexaenoic acid [DHA, 22:6(n-3)], the principal (n-3) fatty acid in brain gray matter, has neurotrophic and neuroprotective properties. Preliminary clinical evidence also suggests that the perinatal accrual, and the subsequent dietary maintenance of, cortical DHA is positively associated with cortical gray matter volumes. The pathophysiology of recurrent affective disorders, including unipolar and bipolar depression, is associated with (n-3) fatty acid deficiency, DHA deficits, impaired astrocyte mediated vascular coupling, neuronal shrinkage, and reductions in gray matter volume in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Preclinical studies have also observed neuronal shrinkage and indices of astrocyte pathology in the DHA-deficient rat brain. Together, this body of evidence supports the proposition that DHA deficiency increases vulnerability to neuronal atrophy in the PFC of patients with affective disorders" - See Jarrow Max DHA at Amazon.com.
• Omega-3 may reduce risk of Alzheimer’s: Rat study - Nutra USA, 2/1/10 - "This study, for the first time, reported […] a clear correlation between the decrease in acetylcholine release and memory deficit, [and] E-EPA improves memory by attenuating the reduction of acetylcholine release and nerve growth factor expression ... In this study, our findings add further evidence that E-EPA may improve memory by the modulation of acetylcholineand neurotrophin functions" - See Mega Twin EPA at Amazon.com.

Other News:

• Anxiety Medications May Be Tied to Alzheimer's Risk - WebMD, 9/9/14 - "The drugs in question are benzodiazepines, a widely prescribed group of sedatives that include lorazepam (Ativan), diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax) ... They found that people who'd been prescribed benzodiazepines for more than three months were 51 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer's ... The risk was almost doubled if they'd taken the medications for more than six months ... people in the early stages of Alzheimer's can have symptoms like sleep problems and anxiety. That raises the possibility that benzodiazepine use is the result of Alzheimer's, and not the cause of the disease ... her study was designed to counter this possibility. They only considered prescriptions that were started at least five years before a person's Alzheimer's diagnosis"
• Diabetes Drug Linked to Lower Dementia Risk - Medscape, 7/24/14 - "they studied the association of pioglitazone and dementia incidence in a prospective cohort study of 145,717 adults age 60 years and older who were free of dementia at baseline in 2004 and followed until 2010. The information on prescriptions of pioglitazone on a quarterly basis was expressed as a linear variable covering the time-dependent number of quarters of prescriptions, which ranged between 0 and 28 quarters ... With each additional quarter of pioglitazone prescription, the relative risk for dementia fell by 6%" - Note:  Pioglitazone is another one I've been taking in low doses for years for anti-aging.
• Diabetes duration, severity associated with brain atrophy - Science Daily, 4/29/14 - "used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the association between severity and duration of type 2 diabetes mellitus and brain structure in 614 patients (mean age 62 years) at four participating centers ... longer duration of diabetes was associated with brain volume loss, particularly in the gray matter ... Diabetes duration correlated primarily with brain atrophy ... for every 10 years of diabetes duration, the brain of a patient with diabetes looks approximately two years older than that of a non-diabetic person, in terms of gray matter volume" - See my Insulin and Aging page.
• Insulin-like growth factor-1 and risk of Alzheimer dementia and brain atrophy - Neurology. 2014 Apr 4 - "Mean IGF-1 levels were 144 ± 60 μg/L in generation 1 and 114 ± 37 μg/L in generation 2. We observed 279 cases of incident dementia (230 AD dementia) over a mean follow-up of 7.4 ± 3.1 years. Persons with IGF-1 in the lowest quartile had a 51% greater risk of AD dementia (hazard ratio = 1.51, 95% confidence interval: 1.14-2.00; p = 0.004). Among persons without dementia, higher IGF-1 levels were associated with greater total brain volumes (β/SD increment in IGF-1 was 0.55 ± 0.24, p = 0.025; and 0.26 ± 0.06, p < 0.001, for generations 1 and 2, respectively)"
• Angiotension receptor blockers reduce the risk of dementia - J Hypertens. 2014 Jan 8 - "a population-based cohort study with data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. A total of 24 531 matching pairs (1 : 1) of ARB-exposed and non-ARB-exposed patients were included. Each patient was individually tracked from 1997 to 2009 to identify incident cases of dementia (onset in 1999 or later) ... The multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios for dementia, Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia were 0.54 (95% CI 0.51-0.59), 0.53 (95% CI 0.43-0.64) and 0.63 (95% CI 0.54-0.73) for patients with ARB treatments, respectively. In terms of cumulative dosage, patients with more than 1460 defined daily dose of ARBs had less risk than those patients with less than 1460 defined daily dose (hazard ratio 0.37 vs. 0.61; P < 0.05) ... These results suggest that ARB may be associated with a reduced risk of dementia in high vascular-risk individuals. Patients exposed to ARBs for higher cumulative doses experienced more protection from dementia and the subtypes" - See my telmisartan (an ARB) as a first line treatment page.
• Increased risk of dementia in patients with osteoporosis: a population-based retrospective cohort analysis - Age (Dordr). 2013 Dec 18 - "Using data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database ... After adjustment for potential risk factors, the osteoporosis patients exhibited 1.46-fold and 1.39-fold higher risk of dementia (95 % CI = 1.37-1.56) and Alzheimer's disease (95 % CI = 0.95-2.02), respectively, compared with the matched nonosteoporosis patients"
• High Blood Sugar Makes Alzheimer’s Plaque More Toxic to the Brain - Science Daily, 10/29/13 - "While neuronal involvement is a major factor in Alzheimer's development, recent evidence indicates damaged cerebral blood vessels compromised by high blood sugar play a role. Even though the links among Type 2 diabetes, brain blood vessels and Alzheimer's progression are unclear, hyperglycemia appears to play a role ... Researchers studied cell cultures taken from the lining of cerebral blood vessels, one from normal rats and another from mice with uncontrolled chronic diabetes. They exposed the cells to beta amyloid and different levels of glucose and later measured their viability. Cells exposed to high glucose or beta amyloid alone showed no changes in viability. However, when exposed to hyperglycemic conditions and beta amyloid, viability decreased by 40 percent"
• Blood pressure drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 10/16/13 - "people over the age of 75 with normal cognition who used diuretics, angiotensin-1 receptor blockers (ARBs) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors showed a reduced risk of AD dementia by at least 50 percent ... Beta blockers and calcium channel blockers did not show a link to reduced risk"
• Long-term use of statins reduces the risk of hospitalization for dementia - Atherosclerosis. 2013 Oct;230(2):171-6 - "A population-based, nested case-control study was carried out by including the cohort of 152,729 patients from Lombardy (Italy) aged 40 years or older who were newly treated with statins between 2003 and 2004. Cases were the 1380 patients who experienced hospitalization for dementia disease from initial prescription until 2010 ... Compared with patients who had very short statins coverage (less than 6 months), those on 7-24, 25-48, and >48 months of coverage respectively had risk reductions of 15% (OR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.98), 28% (OR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.85), and 25% (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.61 to 0.94). Simvastatin and atorvastatin were both associated with a reduced risk of dementia, while no similar evidence was observed for fluvastatin and pravastatin"
• High Blood Sugar and Dementia: No Diabetes Needed - Medscape, 9/19/13 - "The group who did not have diabetes had an average blood sugar of about 100 mg/dL as opposed to the diabetics whose levels were in the 170s. There was a J-shaped relationship between blood sugar and dementia in the diabetics. People who had a blood sugar of 140 mg/dL on average had more dementia, but the rates of dementia then went down to essentially zero and then went up again as the blood sugar rose higher. The nondiabetics had more of a straight-line correlation from the lowest level to the highest level"
• Statins and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults with Normal Cognition or Mild Cognitive Impairment - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2013 Sep 3 - "Research volunteers with normal cognition at baseline evaluated an average 4.1 times over 3.4 years (1,244 statin users, 2,363 nonusers) and with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at baseline evaluated an average 3.9 times over 2.8 years (763 users, 917 nonusers) ... Cognitive performance was assessed according to 10 neuropsychological indices and the Clinical Dementia Rating Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB) ... Of participants with normal cognition at baseline, statin users performed significantly better across all visits in attention (Trails A) and had significantly slower annual worsening in CDR-SOB scores (P = .006) and slower worsening in Mini-Mental State Examination scores than nonusers (which was not significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons, P = .05). For participants with MCI, statin users performed significantly better across all visits on attention measures (Trail-Making Test Part A), verbal skills (Category Fluency), and executive functioning (Trail-Making Test Part B, Digit Symbol, and Digits Backward), but there were no differences in cognitive decline between users and nonusers"
• Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors and Alzheimer's Disease Progression in Older Adults: Results from the Réseau sur la Maladie d'Alzheimer Français Cohort - J Am Geriatr Soc. 2013 Sep 3 - "Memory clinics from 16 university hospitals in France ... Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) ... Continuous ACE-Is users had a 4-year decline in MMSE of 6.4 +/- 1.6 points (P < .001), intermittent ACE-Is users of 7.9 +/- 1.1 points (P < .001), continuous or intermittent users of other antihypertensive drugs of 8.8 +/- 0.7 points (P < .001), and never-users of 10.2 +/- 0.6 points (P < .001). MMSE decline between the four groups was significantly different (adjusted P = .02) ... The use of ACE-Is in older adults with AD is associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline independent of hypertension"
• High dose statins prevents dementia, study suggests - Science Daily, 8/31/13 - "the current study examined whether statin use was associated with new diagnoses of dementia. The researchers used a random sample of 1 million patients covered by Taiwan's National Health Insurance ... The adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for dementia were significantly inversely associated with increased daily or total equivalent statin dosage. The HRs for the three tertiles of mean equivalent daily dosage (lowest to highest) were 0.622, 0.697 and 0.419 vs control ... Patients who received the highest total equivalent doses of statins had a 3-fold decrease in the risk of developing dementia ... Almost all the statins (except lovastatin) decreased the risk for new onset dementia when taken at higher daily doses. A high mean daily dosage of lovastatin was positively associated with the development of dementia, possibly because lovastatin is a lipophilic statin while the anti-inflammatory cholesterol lowering effect of lovastatin is not comparable to that of atorvastatin and simvastatin" - Note: The brand names are Mevacor (lovastatin), Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium), Zocor (simvastatin), etc.
• Plasma cortisol in Alzheimer's disease with or without depressive symptoms - Med Sci Monit. 2013 Aug 19;19:681-9 - "Cortisol is presumed to be a risk factor for stress- and age-related disorders, such as depressive disorder and Alzheimer's disease (AD) ... Plasma cortisol concentration was measured in 80 AD patients (35 of them with depressive symptoms), 27 elderly depressive patients without AD, and 37 elderly controls ... Compared to controls, a significant increase of mean plasma cortisol was found in AD patients but not in depressive patients. Plasma cortisol was positively correlated with cognitive impairment in AD patients. We confirmed a U-shaped association between plasma cortisol and major depression and a linear association between plasma cortisol and AD without depressive symptoms. Significantly increased relative risk of disease in people with high plasma cortisol was found for AD with depressive symptoms and for AD with mild dementia"
• Dementia risk tied to blood sugar level, even with no diabetes - Science Daily, 8/7/13 - "more than 2,000 Group Health patients age 65 and older in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study ... in people without diabetes, risk for dementia was 18 percent higher for people with an average glucose level of 115 milligrams per deciliter compared to those with an average glucose level of 100 mg/dl. And in people with diabetes, whose blood sugar levels are generally higher, dementia risk was 40 percent higher for people with an average glucose level of 190 mg/dl compared to those with an average glucose level of 160 mg/dl ... The most interesting finding was that every incrementally higher glucose level was associated with a higher risk of dementia in people who did not have diabetes" - [Abstract]
• Antihypertensive drugs decrease risk of Alzheimer disease: Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study - Neurology. 2013 Aug 2 - "Secondary longitudinal data analysis of the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study in older adults at least 75 years of age with normal cognition (n = 1,928) or MCI (n = 320) over a median 6.1-year period ... Hazard ratio for incident AD dementia among participants with normal cognition was 0.51 in diuretic (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.31-0.82), 0.31 in ARB (95% CI 0.14-0.68), 0.50 in ACE-I (95% CI 0.29-0.83), 0.62 in CCB (95% CI 0.35-1.09), and 0.58 in BB (95% CI 0.36-0.93) users and was not significantly altered when mean systolic blood pressure was above 140 mm Hg" - Note:  Sounds like the ARB's left the others in the dust.  See my telmisartan as a first line treatment page.
• Insulin Resistance, Brain Atrophy, and Cognitive Performance in Late Middle-Aged Adults - Diabetes Care. 2012 Oct 15 - "Insulin resistance dysregulates glucose uptake and other functions in brain areas affected by Alzheimer disease. Insulin resistance may play a role in Alzheimer disease etiopathogenesis. This longitudinal study examined whether insulin resistance among late middle-aged, cognitively healthy individuals was associated with 1) less gray matter in Alzheimer disease-sensitive brain regions and 2) worse cognitive performance ... higher insulin resistance was related to medial temporal lobe atrophy. Atrophy itself corresponded to cognitive deficits in the RAVLT. Temporal lobe atrophy that was predicted by higher insulin resistance significantly mediated worse RAVLT encoding performance ... These results suggest that insulin resistance in an asymptomatic, late middle-aged cohort is associated with progressive atrophy in regions affected by early Alzheimer disease. Insulin resistance may also affect the ability to encode episodic information by negatively influencing gray matter volume in medial temporal lobe"
• ARBs May Curb Amyloid Deposition in the Brain - Medscape, 9/13/12 - "In 2011, a large British study confirmed this result, finding a 53% lower risk for AD in older adults prescribed an ARB compared with those prescribed other antihypertensive agents ... until now, the mechanism for the apparent protective effect of ARBs on the brain was unclear ... Compared with use of other antihypertensive medications, use of ARBs was associated with a 32% to 35% lower likelihood of AD diagnosis, depending on the criteria used. This was also true when the researchers compared patients treated with ARBs vs untreated patients ... Patients treated with ARBs, with or without a diagnosis of AD, also had significantly less amyloid deposition than untreated patients and those treated with non-ARB antihypertensive medications" - See telmisartan at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Even in normal range, high blood sugar linked to brain shrinkage - Science Daily, 9/3/12 - "The study involved 249 people age 60 to 64 who had blood sugar in the normal range as defined by the World Health Organization. The participants had brain scans at the start of the study and again an average of four years later ... Those with higher fasting blood sugar levels within the normal range and below 6.1 mmol/l (or 110 mg/dL) were more likely to have a loss of brain volume in the areas of the hippocampus and the amygdala, areas that are involved in memory and cognitive skills, than those with lower blood sugar levels. A fasting blood sugar level of 10.0 mmol/l (180 mg/dL) or higher was defined as diabetes and a level of 6.1 mmol/l (110 mg/dL) was considered impaired, or prediabetes ... blood sugar on the high end of normal accounted for six to 10 percent of the brain shrinkage"
• Link between metabolic disorders and Alzheimer's disease examined - Science Daily, 6/14/12 - "individuals with T2D have a nearly twofold higher risk of AD than nondiabetic individuals"
• Brain insulin resistance contributes to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 3/23/12 - "This is the first study to directly demonstrate that insulin resistance occurs in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease ... Our research clearly shows that the brain's ability to respond to insulin, which is important for normal brain function, is going offline at some point ... We believe that brain insulin resistance may be an important contributor to the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease ... The risk of developing Alzheimer's disease is increased by 50 percent in people with diabetes ... insulin resistance of the brain occurs in Alzheimer's disease independent of whether someone has diabetes ... The investigators used samples of postmortem brain tissue from non-diabetics who had died with Alzheimer's disease, stimulated the tissue with insulin, and measured how much the insulin activated various proteins in the insulin-signaling pathways ... three insulin-sensitizing medicines are already approved by the FDA for treatment of diabetes. These drugs readily cross the blood-brain barrier and may have therapeutic potential to correct insulin resistance in Alzheimer's disease and MCI" - Note:  I suspected this for a long time.  It doesn't say what those three drugs are but I'm guessing metformin and Actos are two of them.  I don't have diabetes but I take low doses of both.  My doc says I'm crazy.
• More Evidence That ARBs Have Cognitive Benefits - Medscape, 3/23/12 - "After stopping their antihypertensive medications, the patients were randomly assigned to the ARB candesartan (n = 20), the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) lisinopril (n = 18), or the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (n = 15) ... After adjustment for age and baseline score on the Mini-Mental State Examination, patients taking candesartan showed the greatest improvements on tests assessing executive function ... Our findings further support observational data showing that ARB use is associated with lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer disease compared with the use of ACEIs or other antihypertensives ... As reported previously by Medscape Medical News, Dr. Kehoe and colleagues recently published a study showing a 53% lower risk for Alzheimer's disease in older adults prescribed an ARB compared with those prescribed other antihypertensive agents"
• Flu may boost Alzheimer's risk, research suggests - MSNBC, 2/16/12 - "Viruses such as influenza and herpes may leave brain cells vulnerable to degeneration later in life, and increase the risk of developing diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, research suggests. That's because these the viruses can enter the brain and trigger an immune response — inflammation — which can damage brain cells"
• Diabetes linked to cognitive impairment in older adults, study suggests - Science Daily, 11/8/11 - "in older patients with diabetes, two adhesion molecules -- sVCAM and sICAM -- cause inflammation in the brain, triggering a series of events that affect blood vessels and, eventually, cause brain tissue to atrophy. Importantly, they found that the gray matter in the brain's frontal and temporal regions -- responsible for such critical functions as decision-making, language, verbal memory and complex tasks -- is the area most affected by these events ... at the age of 65, the average person's brain shrinks about one percent a year, but in a diabetic patient, brain volume can be lowered by as much as 15 percent ... Diabetes develops when glucose builds up in the blood instead of entering the body's cells to be used as energy. Known as hyperglycemia, this condition often goes hand-in-hand with inflammation ... Once chronic inflammation sets in, blood vessels constrict, blood flow is reduced, and brain tissue is damaged"
• Diabetes may significantly increase the risk of dementia - Science Daily, 9/19/11 - "people with diabetes were twice as likely to develop dementia as people with normal blood sugar levels ... the risk of developing dementia significantly increased when blood sugar was still high two hours after a meal"
• Link between high cholesterol and Alzheimer's disease revealed in new study - Science Daily, 9/12/11 - "high cholesterol levels were significantly related to brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease ... the cholesterol levels were tested for 2,587 people age 40 to 79 who had no signs of Alzheimer's disease. Then they examined 147 autopsied people who died after a long observation period (10 to 15 years) ... People with high cholesterol levels, defined by a reading of more than 5.8 mmol/L, had significantly more brain plaques when compared to those with normal or lower cholesterol levels. A total of 86 percent of people with high cholesterol had brain plaques, compared with only 62 percent of people with low cholesterol levels ... insulin resistance, a sign of diabetes, may be another risk factor for brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease"
• Humans Alone See Brains Shrink With Age, Researchers Find - WSJ, 7/26/11 - "they found the human brains lost significant volume over time, while the chimpanzees didn't ... Stress can affect brain size. So can depression, research shows. Diet can be a factor, too. More broadly, though, humanity's unusual shrinking brain just may be the price our species pays for living so much longer than other primates ... During those extra decades of life, natural cell-repair mechanisms may wear out and neural circuits wither, the researchers said. As the brain normally ages, it acquires the neural equivalent of sore knees and stiff fingers. Natural grooves in the brain widen. Healthy swellings subside. And tangles of damaged neurons become dense thickets of dysfunctional synapses"
• Hemoglobin level in older persons and incident Alzheimer disease: Prospective cohort analysis - Neurology. 2011 Jul 13 - "When compared to participants with clinically normal hemoglobin (n = 717), participants with anemia (n = 154) had a 60% increased hazard for developing AD (95% CI 1.02-2.52), as did participants with clinically high hemoglobin (n = 10, HR 3.39, 95% CI 1.25-9.20). Linear mixed-effects models showed that lower and higher hemoglobin levels were associated with a greater rate of global cognitive decline (parameter estimate for quadratic of hemoglobin = -0.008, SE -0.002, p < 0.001). Compared to participants with clinically normal hemoglobin, participants with anemia had a -0.061 z score unit annual decline in global cognitive function (SE 0.012, p < 0.001), as did participants with clinically high hemoglobin (-0.090 unit/year, SE 0.038, p = 0.018) ... In older persons without dementia, both lower and higher hemoglobin levels are associated with an increased hazard for developing AD and more rapid cognitive decline"
• Stress may increase risk for Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 5/26/11 - "Fewer than ten percent of Alzheimer cases have a genetic basis. The factors that contribute to the rest of the cases are largely unknown ... life events (stress) may be one trigger ... stress, and the hormones released during stress, can accelerate the development of Alzheimer disease-like biochemical and behavioural pathology"
• Plasma homocysteine and cognitive decline in older hypertensive subjects - Int Psychogeriatr. 2011 May 6:1-9 - "Higher homocysteine showed an independent association with greater cognitive decline in three domains: speed of cognition (β = -27.33, p = 0.001), episodic memory (β = -1.25, p = 0.02) and executive function (β = -0.05, p = 0.04). The association with executive function was no longer significant after inclusion of folate in the regression model (β = -0.032, p = 0.22). Change in working memory and attention were not associated with plasma homocysteine, folate or B12. High homocysteine was associated with greater decline with a Cohen's d effect size of approximately 0.7 compared to low homocysteine. Conclusions: In a population of older hypertensive patients, higher plasma homocysteine was associated with cognitive decline"
• Midlife and Late-Life Blood Pressure and Dementia in Japanese Elderly: The Hisayama Study - Hypertension. 2011 May 9 - "We followed up a total of 668 community-dwelling Japanese individuals without dementia, aged 65 to 79 years, for 17 years and examined the associations of late-life and midlife hypertension with the risk of vascular dementia and Alzheimer disease using the Cox proportional hazards model ... The age- and sex-adjusted incidence of vascular dementia significantly increased with elevated late-life blood pressure levels (normal: 2.3, prehypertension: 8.4, stage 1 hypertension: 12.6, and stage 2 hypertension: 18.9 per 1000 person-years; P(trend)<0.001), whereas no such association was observed for Alzheimer disease (P(trend)=0.88). After adjusting for potential confounding factors, subjects with prehypertension and stage 1 or stage 2 hypertension had 3.0-fold, 4.5-fold, and 5.6-fold greater risk of vascular dementia, respectively, compared with subjects with normal blood pressure. Likewise, there was a positive association of midlife blood pressure levels with the risk of vascular dementia but not with the risk of Alzheimer disease. Compared with those without hypertension in both midlife and late life, subjects with midlife hypertension had an ≈5-fold greater risk of vascular dementia, regardless of late-life blood pressure levels. Our findings suggest that midlife hypertension and late-life hypertension are significant risk factors for the late-life onset of vascular dementia but not for that of Alzheimer disease in a general Japanese population. Midlife hypertension is especially strongly associated with a greater risk of vascular dementia, regardless of late-life blood pressure levels"
• Packing on the pounds in middle age linked to dementia - Science Daily, 5/2/11 - "people who were overweight or obese at midlife had an 80 percent higher risk of developing dementia, Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia in late life compared to people with normal BMI"
• Treating high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes may lower risk of Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 4/13/11 - "After five years, 298 people developed Alzheimer's disease. The others still had mild cognitive impairment. People with risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cerebrovascular disease and high cholesterol were two times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those without vascular risk factors. A total of 52 percent of those with risk factors developed Alzheimer's disease, compared to 36 percent of those with no risk factors ... Of those with vascular risk factors, people who were receiving full treatment were 39 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than those receiving no treatment. Those receiving some treatments were 26 percent less likely to develop the disease compared to people who did not receive any treatment ... Although this was not a controlled trial, patients who were treated for their high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes had less progression of their memory or thinking impairment and were less likely to develop dementia"
• Study links inflammation in brain to some memory decline - Science Daily, 4/13/11 - "adults with measureable levels of C reactive protein recalled fewer words and had smaller medial temporal lobes ... Scientists don't know if the inflammation indicated by the C reactive protein is the cause of the memory loss, if it reflects a response to some other disease process or if the two factors are unrelated. But if inflammation causes the cognitive decline, relatively simple treatments could help"
• Indications of Alzheimer's disease may be evident decades before first signs of cognitive impairment - Science Daily, 3/28/11
• Hearing loss associated with development of dementia - Science Daily, 2/14/11 - "follow-up of 11.9 years ... for every 10 decibels of hearing loss, the extra risk increased by 20 percent ... "A number of mechanisms may be theoretically implicated in the observed association between hearing loss and incident dementia," the authors write. Dementia may be overdiagnosed in individuals with hearing loss, or those with cognitive impairment may be overdiagnosed with hearing loss. The two conditions may share an underlying neuropathologic process. "Finally, hearing loss may be causually related to dementia, possibly through exhaustion of cognitive reserve, social isolation, environmental deafferentation [elimination of sensory nerve fibers] or a combination of these pathways.""
• Insulin metabolism and the risk of Alzheimer disease: The Rotterdam Study - Neurology. 2010 Nov 30;75(22):1982-7 - "Diabetes mellitus has been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer disease (AD), but how it exerts its effect remains controversial ... Levels of insulin and insulin resistance were associated with a higher risk of AD within 3 years of baseline. After 3 years, the risk was no longer increased. Glucose was not associated with a higher risk of AD"
• Bilingualism delays onset of Alzheimer's symptoms - Science Daily, 11/8/10
• New findings pull back curtain on relationship between iron and Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 10/6/10 - "there is a very close link between elevated levels of iron in the brain and the enhanced production of the amyloid precursor protein, which in Alzheimer's disease breaks down into a peptide that makes up the destructive plaques ... it had been known that an abundance of iron in brain cells somehow results in an abundance of amyloid precursor protein, or APP, and its destructive peptide offspring"
• Low testosterone linked to Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 10/5/10 - "Low levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone, in older men is associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease"
• Mild memory loss is not a part of normal aging, new research finds - Science Daily, 9/15/10 - "Simply getting older is not the cause of mild memory lapses often called senior moments ... even the very early mild changes in memory that are much more common in old age than dementia are caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias ... The very early mild cognitive changes once thought to be normal aging are really the first signs of progressive dementia"
• Insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes linked to plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 8/25/10 - "People with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes appear to be at an increased risk of developing plaques in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease ... people who had abnormal results on three tests of blood sugar control had an increased risk of developing plaques. Plaques were found in 72 percent of people with insulin resistance and 62 percent of people with no indication of insulin resistance" -  [Abstract]
• Gum inflammation linked to Alzheimer's disease - Science Daily, 8/3/10 - "cognitively normal subjects with periodontal inflammation are at an increased risk of lower cognitive function compared to cognitively normal subjects with little or no periodontal inflammation ... subjects with Alzheimer's disease had a significantly higher level of antibodies and inflammatory molecules associated with periodontal disease in their plasma compared to healthy people ... the Digit Symbol Test, or DST, a part of the standard measurement of adult IQ ... periodontal inflammation at age 70 was strongly associated with lower DST scores at age 70. Subjects with periodontal inflammation were nine times more likely to test in the lower range of the DST compared to subjects with little or no periodontal inflammation" - Note:  See my dental page.  Gum disease has been linked to several other heath conditions including diabetes and heart disease.  Over the years I've tried several methods for gum disease including floss, Periostat and Arestin and here is the only method that worked:
  • Periogard - Needs a prescription but is usually available at you dentist for around $10.
  • GUM Go-betweens Proxabrush Cleaners Wide [3614] 8 Each (Pack of 3).  These are wide and will only word for the back four slots but that's where most of the problem lies.
  • Put a few tablespoons of Periogard into a small glass.  Soak the brush in it and run it between your teeth.
• Abdominal fat at middle age associated with greater risk of dementia: Obesity linked to lower total brain volume - Science Daily, 5/20/10 - "excess abdominal fat places otherwise healthy, middle-aged people at risk for dementia later in life ... 24.3 million people have some form of dementia, with 4.6 million new cases annually"
• Lowering Systolic BP in Midlife Reduces the Risk of Late-Life Dementia - Medscape, 5/17/10 - "17.7% of cases could be attributed to prehypertension (systolic BP 120 to <140 mm Hg), regardless of treatment status, or 11 excess cases per 1000"
• Homocysteine is associated with hippocampal and white matter atrophy in older subjects with mild hypertension - Int Psychogeriatr. 2010 Apr 7:1-8 - "In older hypertensives, plasma homocysteine levels are associated with increased rates of progressive white matter and hippocampal atrophy"
• Severe Hypoglycemia Raises Dementia Risk in Type 2 Elderly - Clinical Psychiatry News, 3/10 - "compared with patients who had no severe hypoglycemic episodes were 1.7 for those with at least one episode, 2.2 for two or more, and 2.6 for three or more episodes. Further adjustment for diabetes-related comorbidity, HbA1c level, diabetes treatment, and years of insulin use modestly attenuated the effect but it remained “statistically significant and clinically relevant” with hazard ratios of 1.3, 1.8, and 1.9, respectively"
• Diabetes Accelerates Conversion of Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia - Medscape, 1/11/10 - "Our study demonstrates that individuals with mild cognitive impairment and diabetes are at increased risk of developing dementia"
• Hypertension Drugs May Cut Alzheimer's Risk - WebMD, 1/12/10 - "The patients taking an angiotensin receptor blocker had a 19% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those taking lisinopril and a 24% lower risk compared to use of other blood pressure/heart medications. People taking both an ACE inhibitor and an angiotensin receptor blocker, which both target the angiotensin system, had a 46% lower risk of dementia compared with those taking other medications"
• Dementia linked to high blood pressure years earlier - Science Daily, 1/12/10 - "Women who, at the start of the study, were hypertensive, meaning a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher, had significantly more white matter lesions on their MRI scans eight years later than participants with normal blood pressure. Lesions were more common in the frontal lobe, the brain's emotional control center and home to personality, than in the occipital, parietal or temporal lobes"
• Hypertension Linked to White-Matter Disease Progression: Study - Medscape, 1/7/10 - "Long-standing hypertension is strongly associated with progression of white-matter hyperintensity (WMH), which is known to be associated with new or worsening cognitive impairment and dementia"