Category: Dementia

In one-third of Parkinson’s patients these hallucinations manifest themselves before the characteristic trembling.

Experiencing minor hallucinations, such as feeling someone is nearby when there is no one there, could be an early sign of Parkinson’s disease, a study finds.

Known as ‘presence hallucinations’, they are also occasionally felt by healthy people, but can be an early indicator of neurological dysfunction.

In Parkinson’s disease — which is chiefly known for producing tremors — hallucinations like these can predict more rapid cognitive decline and tend to appear early on.

Other minor hallucinations sometimes experienced by those with Parkinson’s include passage hallucinations, which consist of a fleeting glance of someone or something passing sideways and other visual hallucinations, such as mistaking a table for a dog.

Parkinson’s is often diagnosed too late — early interventions can help to slow the progression of the disease, so minor hallucinations could be a useful warning sign.

Professor Olaf Blanke, study co-author, said:

“We now know that early hallucinations are to be taken seriously in Parkinson’s disease.

If you have Parkinson’s disease and experience hallucinations, even minor ones, then you should share this information with your doctor as soon as possible.

So far, we only have evidence linking cognitive decline and early hallucinations for Parkinson’s disease, but it could also be valid for other neurodegenerative diseases.”

Decaying cognitive function

The study included 75 people, aged between 60 and 70 who had Parkinson’s disease.

The results showed that those with early hallucinations were more likely to display cognitive decline in executive function — the ability to plan and control behaviour.

Regular hallucinations are experienced by half of Parkinson’s patients, despite being a little-known symptom.

In one-third of patients hallucinations manifest themselves before the characteristic trembling.

Professor Blanke said:

“Detecting the earliest signs of dementia means early management of the disease, allowing us to develop improved and personalized therapies that try to modify the course of the disease and improve cognitive function.”

While presence hallucinations can be relatively minor at first, they may progress to more complex visual hallucinations later on.

Professor Blanke said:

“We aim to have an early marker to identify individuals at risk of a more severe form of Parkinson’s disease, characterized by a more rapid cognitive decline and dementia, based on hallucinations proneness.

And ideally identify those individuals even before hallucinations actually occur.

We are therefore developing neurotechnology methods and procedures for that purpose.”

Related

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• Small changes to handwriting can be the first sign of Parkinson’s disease.
• Constipation is an early sign of Parkinson’s disease

The study was published in the journal Nature Mental Health (Bernasconi et al., 2023).

Inadequate daily intake of this vitamin-like compound can lead to an enlarged heart, liver damage, weight gain as well as Alzheimer’s disease.

A deficiency in choline is linked to increased Alzheimer’s risk, research finds.

Choline is a vitamin-like essential nutrient produced in the liver, however, the amounts produced are too small for the body’s requirements.

Lecithin (a fatty substance) is the main source of choline found in egg yolk, beef, fish, chicken, wheat germ, soy beans, dairy products, peanuts, and almonds.

Choline is well known for its effect in treating memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

According to the US Institute of Medicine the minimum daily intake of choline for men is 550mg and 425mg for women.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women require at least 450mg and 550mg choline per day respectively, due to the crucial role of this nutrient in infant development.

Despite these daily requirements, national dietary surveys have found that less than 10 percent of Americans are meeting the recommendations.

Essential for brain health

Choline is not only essential for brain health but also influences liver function as shortfalls in this nutrient can cause cell damage and irregularities in fat metabolism.

A study has examined how choline deficiency can adversely influence the brain, liver, and heart.

The research team found that dietary choline deficiency in mice led to weight gain, reduced glucose metabolism, enlargement of the heart, neurological alterations, and liver damage.

Choline deficiency also led to elevated levels of tau tangles and beta-amyloid plaques, two key features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Amyloid plaques are clustered proteins between the nerve cells and tau tangles are abnormal accumulations of tau proteins inside neurons.

Dr Ramon Velazquez, the study’s senior author, pointed out that choline deficiency in human contains two aspects:

“it’s a twofold problem.

First, people don’t reach the adequate daily intake of choline established by the Institute of Medicine in 1998.

And secondly, there is vast literature showing that the recommended daily intake amounts are not optimal for brain-related functions.”

The study shows a link between choline deficiency and a group of neurological and physical changes.

Adequate levels of choline, on the other hand, will improve overall health and protect the nervous system.

For example, elevated levels of homocysteine have been found to to be neurotoxic and associated with neurodegenerative diseases but choline can reduce homocysteine levels.

Another example is that acetylcholine a neurotransmitter synthesized from choline which is vital for cognitive functions including learning, memory, and attention.

These findings support other studies concerning the influence of dietary choline on human health.

The evidence may help people, particularly vegans and those on plant-based diets, to eat foods rich in choline.

The authors also explored proteins in the hippocampus, one of the brain areas wracked by Alzheimer’s.

Inadequate choline status appeared to affect hippocampal networks associated with postsynaptic membrane regulation and microtubule function — the two are vital for functions of the brain.

In addition, blood plasma samples revealed that choline deficiency caused alterations in certain proteins produced in the liver which are important for metabolic function.

Dr Velazquez said:

“Our work provides further support that dietary choline should be consumed on a daily basis given the need throughout the body.”

The study was published in the journal Aging Cell (Dave et al., 2023).

Any variety may well have the beneficial effect as they all contain an antioxidant called ergothioneine.

Two portions of mushrooms a week halves the risk of memory loss, research finds.

Mild cognitive impairment, as it is known, is frequently a precursor to dementia.

It involves forgetfulness, along with problems with language and attention.

However, the problems are normally subtle — certainly more so than dementia.

Older people eating around half a plate of mushrooms per week, though, were at half the risk of developing the condition.

Even one small portion of mushrooms a week may be enough to have a meaningful effect, the scientists think.

Dr Lei Feng, the study’s first author, said:

“This correlation is surprising and encouraging.

It seems that a commonly available single ingredient could have a dramatic effect on cognitive decline.”

The study involved over 600 people over 60-years-old in Singapore who were followed over six years.

They were tested for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) along with being asked about their dietary habits.

Dr Feng said:

“People with MCI are still able to carry out their normal daily activities.

So, what we had to determine in this study is whether these seniors had poorer performance on standard neuropsychologist tests than other people of the same age and education background.”

The study found that six commonly eaten mushrooms were linked to a 50 percent lower risk of cognitive decline.

These were:

1. golden,
2. oyster,
3. shiitake,
4. white button,
5. dried,
6. and canned mushrooms.

However, any variety of mushrooms may well have the beneficial effect as they all contain an antioxidant called ergothioneine.

Dr Irwin Cheah, study co-author, explained:

“We’re very interested in a compound called ergothioneine (ET).

ET is a unique antioxidant and anti-inflammatory which humans are unable to synthesise on their own.

But it can be obtained from dietary sources, one of the main ones being mushrooms.”

The researchers will now conduct a randomised controlled trial of a pure compound of ET.

The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Feng et al., 2019).

Memory problems are one of the key symptoms of dementia.

A folate deficiency is linked to a tripling in the chance of developing dementia in older people, research finds.

Folates include vitamin B9, folacin and folic acid.

Healthy adults should get around 400mcg per day to prevent a deficiency.

Foods that are high in folates include leafy greens, beets, citrus fruits, broccoli, eggs and asparagus.

Folates are also usually contained in multivitamin supplements.

Low levels of vitamin B12 and folate have both been linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease by multiple studies.

This link has been observed by researchers for more than three decades.

A deficiency in B12 or folate can cause higher levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the body.

Homocysteine has a neurotoxic effect and could lead to neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s.

For the current study, 518 people over the age of 65 were tracked for two years.

They were given blood tests for levels of folate, vitamin B12 and the protein homosysteine, along with cognitive tests.

The results showed that 45 people had developed dementia by the end of the study.

People who were deficient in folates were 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia, the researchers found.

Dementia was also more likely in people whose folate levels dropped over the two years of the study.

The study’s authors write:

“In this prospective study of a community population, lower
folate concentrations predicted incident dementia and AD over
a 2.4 year follow-up period…

Over the follow-up period, dementia occurred more commonly in those with a relative decline in folate and vitamin B12 concentrations or a relative increase in homocysteine concentrations.”

A good diet is repeatedly linked by research to a reduced risk of dementia.

One study has found that people who eat more nuts, fish, poultry and certain fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, research finds.

Set against this, those who eat more red meats, organ meats, butter and high-fat dairy products have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (Kim et al., 2019).

The simple belief about old age that halves your dementia risk.

Having a positive attitude towards ageing can half the risk of developing dementia, research finds.

People with the strongest genetic risk factor for depression — the ε4 variant of the APOE gene — were 49.8 percent less likely to develop the disease compared to those with a negative view of ageing.

For those without the genetic risk factor, those with positive beliefs about ageing had a 43.6 percent lower chance of developing dementia.

Professor Becca Levy, the study’s first author, said:

“We found that positive age beliefs can reduce the risk of one of the most established genetic risk factors of dementia.

This makes a case for implementing a public health campaign against ageism, which is a source of negative age beliefs.”

The study followed 4,765 people with an average age of 72 over four years — none of them had dementia at the start of the study.

All were asked about their attitudes towards ageing.

For example, they were asked how much they agreed with statements like “The older I get, the more useless I feel”.

Among those testing positive for high genetic risk, 6.1% with more negative attitudes towards ageing developed dementia.

In comparison, only 2.7 percent of people with a positive attitude towards ageing developed dementia.

Research has shown that people’s attitudes towards ageing can be changed, the authors write:

“Short- and long-term randomized controlled interventions conducted with older participants have shown that positive age beliefs can be bolstered and negative age beliefs can be mitigated with corresponding changes in cognitive and physical performance.”

Thinking positively about ageing may help to reduce the built up of damaging proteins in the brain linked to dementia.

The study’s authors write:

“The positive age beliefs of older individuals appear to provide a means of coping with exposure to ageism which is prevalent in society.

It has been shown that older participants in a positive-age-belief intervention interpreted their environment in a more age-friendly way.

The reduction of stress by positive age beliefs could potentially contribute to a lower incidence of dementia among older individuals in general and specifically among those with APOE ε4.”

The study was published in the journal PLoS One (Levy et al., 2018).

The probiotic has been investigated in over 250 clinical trials.

Probiotics help prevent mild declines in memory and thinking skills that typically occur with age, a study finds.

Older adults with mild cognitive impairment who took Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) for three months displayed improved cognition scores.

LGG has been investigated in over 250 clinical trials and there is some evidence it can be useful for treating irritable bowel syndrome and some other gastrointestinal issues.

Ms Mashael Aljumaah, the study’s first author, said:

“The implication of this finding is quite exciting, as it means that modifying the gut microbiome through probiotics could potentially be a strategy to improve cognitive performance, particularly in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.

This adds a new layer to our understanding of the microbiome brain-gut connection and opens up new avenues for combating cognitive decline associated with aging.”

Fighting memory problems

The experiment involved 169 people aged 52 to 75, some of whom had Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

MCI is diagnosed when people have age-related problems with memory and thinking, but can still live independently.

People with MCI may go on to develop dementia, but some people never get worse and many improve.

Ms Aljumaah said:

“Many studies focus on severe forms of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, but these conditions are more advanced, making them significantly harder to reverse or treat.

In contrast, we focused on mild cognitive impairment, which can include problems with memory, language, or judgment. Interventions at this stage of cognitive impairment could slow down or prevent the progression to more severe forms of dementia.”

Not only did the thinking skills of participants who took probiotics improve, the results showed, but changes were measured in the gut microbiome.

Microbes in the genus Prevotella decreased as people’s thinking skills increased.

Ms Aljumaah said:

“By identifying specific shifts in the gut microbiome associated with mild cognitive impairment, we’re exploring a new frontier in preventive strategies in cognitive health.

If these findings are replicated in future studies, it suggests the feasibility of using gut microbiome-targeted strategies as a novel approach to support cognitive health.”

It is not yet known how or why Prevotella interacts with brain health — that is what the researchers are working on next.

Related

• People who hold positive beliefs about aging are 30 percent more likely to recover from mild cognitive impairment.
• Doing crossword puzzles helps improve the thinking skills of seniors with mild cognitive impairment.
• Increased muscle strength improves brain function in people with mild cognitive impairment.
• Almost any type of exercise can help improve cognitive performance.

The study was presented at Nutrition ’23 in Boston, MA (Aljumaah et al., 2023).

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, according to research.

An international team of scientists used data from 1,685 elderly Americans who were followed for around five years (Littlejohns et al., 2014).

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

The study, published in the journal Neurology, found that amongst those who had dementia, those low in Vitamin D were 53% more likely to develop the disease.

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

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

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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