Lifestyle changes may cut Alzheimer's risk, says study

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: , , , , , , , , Sunday, September 4, 2011 10:11 PM

On the other hand...
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Posted: 20 July 2011

(AFP/File/Sebastien Bozon)
PARIS: Up to half of worldwide cases of Alzheimer's disease could be due to modifiable lifestyle risk factors, according to a study released Tuesday based on a mathematical model.

The theoretical analysis suggests that seven known behaviour-related risk factors, taken together, account for 50 per cent of the more than 35 million cases of dementia worldwide.

The findings "suggest that relatively simple lifestyle changes such as increasing physical activity and quitting smoking could have a dramatic impact" on the number of Alzheimer's cases over time, said lead researcher Deborah Barnes, a professor at the University of California in San Francisco.

The study, presented at an international Alzheimer's conference in Paris, is among the first attempts to link risk factors with the degenerative brain disease, which causes memory loss, disability and eventually death.

Only a tiny percentage of cases -- about one per cent -- are clearly caused by genetic factors.

Otherwise, while the process by which the disease attacks nerve cells in the brain is well known, its origins remain poorly understood.

Barnes and colleagues used a statistical method to measure the percentage of cases which might be attributable, at least in part, to each of the risk factors assessed.

Worldwide, they found that a low level of education was linked to 19 per cent of cases, smoking to 14 per cent, physical inactivity to 13 per cent, depression to 11 per cent, mid life hypertension and obesity to five and two per cent, respectively, and diabetes to two per cent.

When combined, these seven modifiable risk factors contribute to as many as 17 million Alzheimer's cases worldwide, and about three million in the United States, the study found.

While eliminating harmful lifestyle habits entirely is likely to remain a theoretical exercise, the more realistic goal of reducing them by a quarter would cut the number of cases globally by three million, the researchers calculated.

"The next step is to perform large-scale studies with people to discover whether changing these lifestyle factors will actually lower Alzheimer's risk," Barnes said in a statement.

The number of people afflicted by Alzheimer's is expected to more than triple by 2050 as populations across the planet age.

The disease is characterised by unwanted proteins that form plaque in some areas of the brain, ultimately destroying neurons and leading to irreversible brain damage.

Typical symptoms are memory loss, erratic behaviour and extreme agitation.

Alzheimer's affects 13 per cent of people over 65, and up to 50 per cent of those over 85.

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Lifestyle changes may cut Alzheimer's risk, says study


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Head injuries in war, sports may boost dementia

Posted by PrfyVdlx , Labels: , , , , , , , , 10:09 PM

Somehow, some memories would rather be forgotten by vets, don't you think? Or you also don't remember anything anymore?
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Posted: 19 July 2011

A doctor looks at several brain scans a hospital (AFP/File, Fethi Belaid)
PARIS - Brain injuries sustained on the battlefield and the gridiron of American football likely boost the risk of dementia later in life, according to two studies released Monday.

In a third study, also presented at an international Alzheimer's conference in Paris this week, researchers unveiled evidence that falling over in daily life may be an early warning sign of the onset of Alzheimer's.

Older war veterans who experienced traumatic brain injury face a doubled risk of developing dementia, according to a study led by Kristine Yaffe, head of the Memory Disorders Program at the San Francisco Veterans Association medical centre.

Reviewing the medical records of 281,540 US veterans aged 55 and older, they found that the risk of dementia was 15.3 percent in those who had had traumatic brain injuries (TBI) compared to 6.8 percent for ex-soldiers who had not.

"This issue is important, because TBI is very common," Yaffe said in a statement.

"About 1.7 million people experience a TBI each year in the United States, primarily due to falls and car crashes."


Brain injuries sustained on the battlefield and the gridiron of American football likely boost the risk of dementia (AFP/Getty Images/File, Spencer Platt)
Such injuries are also known as the "signature wound" of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, accounting for 22 percent of casualties overall and 59 percent of blast-related injuries.

The research suggests that the death and damage of axons -- long cell extensions that form connections among nerve cells in the brain -- may be to blame for the higher risk of dementia.

The swelling of the traumatised axons accompanies the accumulation of proteins called beta-amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer's.

Amyloid plaques similar to those found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's are present in up to 30 percent of TBI patients who do not survive their injuries, regardless of age.

In the second study, scientists led by Christopher Randolph of Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago compared the likelihood of decline in basic cognitive functions among retired football players and in older adults who had not played professional sports.

The repeated head-on clashes typical of American football may -- despite protective gear -- boost the chances of long-term brain damage.


Brain injuries sustained on the battlefield and the gridiron of American football likely boost the risk of dementia (AFP/File, Samuel Kubani)
Of more than 500 ex-football players, mean age 61, who responded to a health survey in 2008, just over 35 percent gave answers suggesting possible dementia, nearly triple the rate of Alzheimer's among Americans over 65.

Researchers followed up on this data to identify players with Mild Cognitive Disorder (MCI), often a precursor to full-blown dementia or Alzheimer's.

The study compared neurological and psychological test results from this group with two other groups, neither of which had played pro sports: demographically similar adults who showed no cognitive decline, and adults diagnosed with MCI.

The former athletes were clearly impaired compared to the normal adults. They were slightly less impaired that the non-athlete group diagnosed with MCI, but were considerably younger.

"It appears that there may be a very high rate of cognitive impairment in these retired football players compared to the general population," Randolph said, pointing to "repetitive head trauma" as the likely culprit.

In the last study, Washington University researcher Susan Stark and colleagues tracked 125 older adults over eight months, asking them to log any falls they made in day-to-day life.

Those adults with so-called preclinical Alzheimer's -- signs measurable in brain scans even in the absence of memory loss -- were nearly three times more likely to fall for each notch on a scale used to measure Alzheimer's progression.

"This study suggests that higher rates of falls can occur very early in the disease process," said Stark.

Traditional hallmarks of Alzheimer's such as memory loss remain critically important, said Maria Carrillo, a senior director at the Alzheimer's Association in the United States, commenting on the study.

"But these results also illustrate the significance of understanding that, in some people, changes in gait and balance may appear before cognitive impairment," she said.

-AFP/rt


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Head injuries in war, sports may boost dementia


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