- Can be offset by taking antioxidant vitamins with meal
- But a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables is best defence
 Adults with type 2 diabetes who eat unhealthy, high-fat meals may experience memory declines immediately afterward, but this can be offset by taking antioxidant vitamins with the meal, according to new research from Baycrest.
There is already growing evidence linking diabetes to cognitive complications in humans. Adults with type 2 diabetes are especially vulnerable to acute meal-induced memory deficits after eating unhealthy foods. [continue reading…]
Using new scientific techniques, scientists have unlocked the cascade of molecular events that lead to Alzheimer’s disease. The scientific findings published in the latest edition of Nature Medicine suggest a potential new target for the development of drug therapies to fight the irreversible and degenerative disease which affects some 29.8 million people worldwide. The total worldwide societal cost of dementia was estimated at somewhere in the region of US$315.4 billion in 2005.
Alzheimer’s disease is marked by the build-up of plaques consisting of beta-amyloid protein fragments, as well as abnormal tangles of tau protein found inside brain cells. Early in the disease, Alzheimer’s pathology is first observed in the hippocampus, the part of the brain important to memory, and gradually spreads to the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain.
The team of Irish and international researchers have identified that the accumulation of a particular protein (called amyloid ß-protein – Aß) in the brain initiates Alzheimer’s disease and that it directly alters the structure and function of brain cells. The findings place a significant emphasis on the development of new therapeutic strategies targeted at the reduction of the formation of Aß as opposed to the reduction of the plaque burden associated with the disease. [continue reading…]
Standard neurological exams of older adults are good predictors of future brain health and quality of life. These tests should become part of the physician’s routine examination of older adults say faculty from the Indiana University Center for Aging Research in an editorial in the June 23, 2008 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
The editorial accompanies a study by Italian researchers who used data obtained from standardized neurological exams to devise a simple scale measuring the total number of subtle neurological abnormalities found among disability-free older adults. The Italian study found that a higher number of subtle neurological abnormalities in patients without cognitive impairment at baseline predicted both cognitive and functional declines. [continue reading…]
How simple H2O is keeping elderly folk fit and healthy.
A year ago, 88-year-old Jean Lavender used to find walking any distance a struggle.
Now she is keen to get outside for a walk most days.
And she puts the transformation down to the most simple of medicines – water!
Link to this BBC video
Source: BBC News
By Jane Hughes
Health correspondent, BBC News
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