Ron White memory expert recommends this article :
Determining your risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is almost impossible, especially if you are living a ‘memory-fitness friendly’ lifestyle and are under the age of 55. The Alzheimer’s association suggests that as many as one in eight baby boomers who reach age 55 will develop Alzheimer’s disease by the year 2030.
There is currently no diagnostic test for any neurodegenerative disease – diagnoses are currently based solely on a clinical diagnosis of symptoms. In fact, the most reliable way to determine for certain that a person has AD is examining brain tissue during an autopsy. However, new research indicates that it may be possible to find out if you’re at risk of the disease with a simple blood test.
University of California San Francisco researchers, after studying a thousand older people without dementia for nine years, were able to find a good blood test that predicted people who were at risk for cognitive impairment. The study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found low blood levels of beta-amyloid 42, a protein-like substance long known to collect in the brain of patients with AD – were associated with the risk of significant cognitive decline within nine years. This was compared to controls who had higher levels of the substance.
The study also indicates high risk patients might be able to do something to fight off the symptoms of the brain ravaging disease. Among the elders with low beta-amyloid 42, cognitive decline was less pronounced in those who had higher literacy, or more education, or who lacked the APOE e4 gene known to be associated with a greater risk of dementia. The researchers describe the condition associated with a higher literacy/higher education as having high “cognitive reserve.†This study showed for the first time that high cognitive reserve – a general level of resiliency in the brain resulting from proper rigorous use over time – might modify the risk of age-related memory loss in the elderly.
The results of this study are in line with evidence from other research indicating high education, high literacy, or other compensatory factors, makes your brain more resilient to certain insults, whether they be vascular dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Compliments of Practical Memory Institute