Category: Dementia

Elderly people low in this vitamin were more than twice as likely to develop dementia.

Low levels of Vitamin D are substantially associated with developing Alzheimer’s and dementia in older people.

An international team of scientists used data from 1,685 elderly Americans who were followed for around five years.

None had dementia problems at the start of the study, but after an average of five years, 171 had developed dementia, 102 of whom had Alzheimer’s disease.

The study found that, amongst those who developed dementia, those with low vitamin D levels were 53 percent more likely to develop the disease.

Amongst those who were severely deficient, the risk increased by 125 percent.

Similar increases in risk were seen for Alzheimer’s disease: low levels of vitamin D increased risk by 69 percent and severe deficiency by 122 percent.

Dr David Llewellyn of the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the study, said:

“We expected to find an association between low Vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the results were surprising — we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated.

Clinical trials are now needed to establish whether eating foods such as oily fish or taking vitamin D supplements can delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

We need to be cautious at this early stage and our latest results do not demonstrate that low vitamin D levels cause dementia.

That said, our findings are very encouraging, and even if a small number of people could benefit, this would have enormous public health implications given the devastating and costly nature of dementia.”

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The study was published in the journal Neurology (Littlejohns et al., 2014).

The personality changes came ahead of more obvious behavioural changes linked to Alzheimer’s.

Increases in neuroticism may help to predict the onset of Alzheimer’s.

Neuroticism is one of the five major personality traits and it involves a tendency towards worry and moodiness.

Neuroticism is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas.

Neuroticism is strongly linked to anxiety, sadness, irritability and self-consciousness.

People who transition from mild cognitive impairment to full-blown Alzheimer’s are more likely to show personality changes.

Many people with mild cognitive impairment do not go on to develop dementia.

Both increased neuroticism and lower openness to experience predict the progression of the most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease.

The conclusions come from a study that followed people for more than 7 years.

They were tested for personality, anxiety, depression and other symptoms.

The researchers found that personality changes typically came after memory had begun to worsen.

Increases in depression, anxiety and anger were strongly linked to the transition to dementia.

However, the personality changes came before typical behaviour changes — such as mood swings — were obvious.

The study’s authors write that Alzheimer’s disease is…

“…characterized by greater neuroticism and less openness; and coincide with subtle, clinically insignificant behavioral changes that qualitatively mirror and anticipate the clinically severe behavioral problems that often complicate dementia care.”

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The study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (Caselli et al., 2018).

Even a year after taking part in the study, the way some older people’s brains processed language was more akin to young people.

“The present findings provide some of the first experimental evidence that mentally-challenging leisure activities can actually change brain function and that it is possible that such interventions can restore levels of brain activity to a more youth-like state.However, we would like to conduct much larger studies to determine the universality of this effect and understand who will benefit the most from such an intervention.”

• Better memory performance.
• Higher ability to regulate brain activity.
• Better neural efficiency.

“The study clearly illustrates that the enhanced neural efficiency was a direct consequence of participation in a demanding learning environment.The findings superficially confirm the familiar adage regarding cognitive aging of ‘Use it or lose it.'”

“Although there is much more to be learned, we are cautiously optimistic that age-related cognitive declines can be slowed or even partially restored if individuals are exposed to sustained, mentally challenging experiences.”

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The supplement halves the rate of brain shrinkage.

B vitamins may halve the rate of brain shrinkage in people with mild memory problems.

High doses of B vitamins — folic acid, vitamin B6 and B12 — taken over two years are also linked to better scores on tests of memory and thinking.

Around 1 in 6 people over 70 have mild cognitive impairment.

About half of these people will go on to develop Alzheimer’s disease within five years.

Professor David Smith, study co-author, said:

“It is our hope that this simple and safe treatment will delay the development of Alzheimer’s disease in many people who suffer from mild memory problems.

Today there are about 1.5 million elderly in UK, 5 million in USA and 14 million in Europe with such memory problems.”

The study gave 168 volunteers aged over 70 either a placebo or high doses of B vitamin tablets for two years.

Brain scans showed that brain shrinkage was reduced by 50 percent in people who took the B vitamins.

Lower rates of brain shrinkage were also linked to better scores on cognitive tests.

Professor Smith continued:

“These are immensely promising results but we do need to do more trials to conclude whether these particular B vitamins can slow or prevent development of Alzheimer’s.

So I wouldn’t yet recommend that anyone getting a bit older and beginning to be worried about memory lapses should rush out and buy vitamin B supplements without seeing a doctor.”

Rebecca Wood, Chief Executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said:

“These are very important results, with B vitamins now showing a prospect of protecting some people from Alzheimer’s in old age.

The strong findings must inspire an expanded trial to follow people expected to develop Alzheimer’s, and we hope for further success.

We desperately need to support research into dementia, to help avoid the massive increases of people living with the condition as the population ages.

Research is the only answer to what remains the greatest medical challenge of our time.”

Subsequent to this study, carried out in 2010, other studies have questioned whether B vitamins can benefit Alzheimer’s — but research in this area continues.

The study was published in the journal PLoS ONE (Smith et al., 2010).

People showed improved memory and the ability to perform tasks more quickly.

Regular moderate exercise is enough to slow brain ageing by the equivalent of ten years.

The study followed 876 people over 65 years old across more than 10 years.

They were given tests of memory and thinking skills along with brain scans.

Unfortunately, 90 percent of the people in the study reported that they did light or no exercise.

Light exercise included things like yoga and walking.

Moderate exercise included things like aerobics, callisthenics and running.

Dr Clinton B. Wright, one of the study’s authors, said:

“The number of people over the age of 65 in the United States is on the rise, meaning the public health burden of thinking and memory problems will likely grow.

Our study showed that for older people, getting regular exercise may be protective, helping them keep their cognitive abilities longer.”

After five years, those who were at least moderately active could remember more words from a list and could perform simple tasks more quickly.

Dr Wright said:

“Physical activity is an attractive option to reduce the burden of cognitive impairment in public health because it is low cost and doesn’t interfere with medications.

Our results suggest that moderate to intense exercise may help older people delay aging of the brain, but more research from randomized clinical trials comparing exercise programs to more sedentary activity is needed to confirm these results.”

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The study was published in the journal Neurology (Willey et al., 2016).