New Studies About Alzheimer's Disease

It's no secret that a well-rounded diet high in omega-3 fatty acids and rich in vitamins found in fruits and vegetables is good for your overall health and longevity. But a recent study supports the longstanding notion that a healthy diet can also help prevent Alzheimer's disease.

According to this study, which was released in the journal Neurology, scientists associate these fish-rich diets and foods with high levels of vitamins B, C, D, and E nutrients with increased cognitive performance and decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, or "brain shrinkage."

The study found that people who consume diets high in trans fats, primarily found in fast foods, fried and frozen foods, were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people who ate very little trans fats.

Although there have been similar studies in the past that primarily depended on participants' memory recall and questionnaires, this is the first study using nutrient biomarkers in the blood to look at the effect of diet on memory, thinking skills and brain volume.

In a different study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, new research links "silent strokes," or small spots of dead brain cells, to memory loss in the elderly. The study detected silent strokes in roughly one out of four older adults, and those who did have silent strokes scored somewhat worse on memory tests than those without silent strokes.

Researchers found this to be true whether or not the patients had a small hippocampus, which is the main memory center of the brain. Since the study showed that the volume of the hippocampus and silent strokes were associated with memory loss separately from one another, the results also support stroke prevention as a means for preventing memory loss.

Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and the only one in the top 10 without a way to prevent, cure, or even slow its progression. But hopefully, with studies like these, we are getting closer to understanding ways to prevent and, perhaps, cure this mysterious brain disease.