Chance of inheriting disease from mother is much greater than from father, study finds.

by My Health News Daily

You’re more likely to inherit Alzheimer’s disease from your mother than your father, a new study suggests.

People whose mothers have Alzheimer’s disease had twice as much gray matter shrinkage in certain brain regions as people whose fathers had Alzheimer’s and people without a family history of the disease, according to a new study. The finding adds to evidence that Alzheimer’s is highly heritable from first-degree relatives, said study author Robyn Honea, of the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

New research finds that high cholesterol and high blood pressure not only put patients at risk for heart disease but are also risk factors for early memory loss and other cognitive problems.
by Alzheimer’s Reading Room

In the study, participants underwent three cognitive tests during a 10-year period. The tests measured reasoning, memory, fluency, vocabulary, and rated each individual with a Framingham risk score. A Framinghman score, which is based on a government study of the same name, is used to predict one’s 10-year risk of a cardiovascular event and is based on age, sex, HDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and whether or not a person smoked or had diabetes.

“We found that cardiovascular risk in middle age is related to lower overall cognitive function,” Sara Kaffashian, study co-author and doctoral student at INSERM, the French Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, told AOL Health.

by John Phillip for Natural News

Alzheimer`s disease is a devastating condition that is characterized by the formation of protein amyloid plaques that attack the neural synapses and prevent normal chemical and electrical signaling activity in the brain.

Medical researchers aren’t certain if plaque is the cause of Alzheimer`s disease or a normal byproduct of cellular metabolism that remains behind to provoke the memory-robbing condition.

The British Journal of Pharmacology provides evidence to explain how plaque is formed in the absence of friendly endothelial nitric oxide (eNOS) that disrupts blood pressure, lipid levels and glucose in the brain. Resveratrol can increase eNOS levels in the brain and lower the impact of deadly plaques seen in Alzheimer`s disease.

Even late in life, picking up a new tongue can slow effects of aging, expert says.

by Christine Dell’Amore for National Geographic News

Talk about the power of words—speaking at least two languages may slow dementia in the aging brain, new research shows. Scientists already knew that bilingual young adults and children perform better on tasks dictated by the brain’s executive control system.

Located at the front of the brain, this system is “the basis for your ability to think in complex ways, control attention, and do everything we think of as uniquely human thought,” said Ellen Bialystock, a psychologist at York University in Toronto, Canada.

by Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation

People with type 2 diabetes or in the early stages of getting the disease appear to be at an increased risk of developing the brain plaques of Alzheimer’s disease. The findings are troubling, as diabetes is becoming alarmingly common in the United States and many other countries and may contribute to the growing number of Alzheimer’s cases in coming years.

One in five older Americans has diabetes. Many more people, both young and old, have risk factors for the disease, including obesity and poor control of blood sugar. “Type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are two epidemics growing at alarming levels around the world,” said study author Dr. Kensuke Sasaki of Kyushu University in Japan. “With the rising obesity rates and the fact that obesity is related to the rise in type 2 diabetes, these results are very concerning.”

Numerous studies have shown that obesity, including having lots of belly fat in middle age, is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia. Diabetes and insulin resistance, or the inability of the hormone insulin to properly control blood sugar levels, are also linked to increased dementia risk. Diabetes and poor blood sugar control is also linked to an increased risk for mild cognitive impairment, a condition marked by difficulties in thinking and learning that may be an early transitional form of Alzheimer’s disease.

by André Picard for The Globe and Mail

People who lose their hearing are at an elevated risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, a new study shows.

In fact, researchers calculate that about one-third of dementia risk can be explained by hearing loss, even though the connection is rarely considered.

“A lot of people ignore hearing loss because it’s such a slow and insidious process as we age,” said Frank Lin, a researcher at the Center on Aging and Health at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Md.

by Douglas Hardwick for Alzheimer’s Support

Alzheimer’s disease touches the lives of millions of Americans. Today,  millions of  Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s, and 1 in 10 families have a loved one afflicted with it. With no cure in sight, it is important for families to arm themselves with information about this devastating disease.

* Alzheimer’s disease begins slowly.

Like a stroke, Alzheimer’s kills brain cells. Unlike a stroke, however, Alzheimer’s does not strike suddenly. And, its effects are more far-ranging. Experts like to say that Alzheimer’s has an insidious onset. This means simply that the disease starts slowly and unfolds very gradually. So gradually, in fact, that the person who has Alzheimer’s may not realize that anything is wrong until a great deal of brain tissue has been destroyed.

* Early symptoms reflect what is happening inside the brain.