Progress with Alzheimer’s

Medical News Today reported some fantastic news on a new study on Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition affecting parts of the brain associated with memory, thought, and language. Its symptoms range from mild memory loss to the inability to hold conversations to environmental disorientation and mood changes.

Research has suggested that various factors — such as age, family history, diet, and environmental factors — combine to influence a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s disease. However, scientists recently discovered an additional factor that may be responsible for the development of this neurodegenerative condition.

Lead study author Dr. John Mamo, Ph.D is the distinguished professor and director of the Curtin Health Innovation Research Institute at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Dr. Mamo and his team are working to unearth previously undiscovered causes of Alzheimer’s disease. He said:

“To find new opportunities to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s, we need to understand what actually causes the disease, and presently that is not established. This study shows that exaggerated abundance in blood of potentially toxic fat-protein complexes can damage microscopic brain blood vessels called capillaries and, thereafter, leak into the brain, causing inflammation and brain cell death.”

This is great for the 5.8 million people in the United States suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Dietary changes and medications could potentially reduce blood concentration of these toxic fat-protein complexes. This may reduce the risk for Alzheimer’s or slow down the disease progression. The findings appear in the journal PLOS Biology.