The Alzheimer's cholesterol connection

Advance
Although the causes of Alzheimer's disease are not fully understood, there may be a clear connection between high cholesterol and the risk of developing the disease.

Emma Roberts is 73 years old and spends most of her days sitting in her favorite chair. She is incapable of conversation and often babbles incoherently. Her soft, baby blue eyes are wide and glossy, giving her the look of a lost child. For some 10 years now, Emma has been fighting a losing battle with Alzheimer's disease. In that time, the disease has slowly and steadily erased her identity. Nearly all traces of her former self — her exuberant personality, warm understanding and quick-witted sense of humor — have disintegrated in such a way that she is barely familiar to her closest family members. But more importantly, those family members are no longer familiar to Emma.

As sad as Emma's situation may be, she is just one of about 4 million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer's. The disease is associated with the elderly, as it usually begins after age 60, with risks increasing with age. Ten percent of all Americans over the age of 65 — and nearly half of those over 85 — have the disease.1 Furthermore, a strong increase in the prevalence of the disease is expected over the next 50 years.1 It is estimated that by the middle of this century, 14 million Americans will have Alzheimer's.1

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological disease that results in the irreversible loss of nerve cells in the brain, inhibiting a person's ability to remember, think and talk. The disease starts off by causing mild memory problems that may go unnoticed, but it ends up causing serious mental damage and possibly death. Alzheimer's disease also leads to changes in behavior and mood. People with Alzheimer's often become delusional, depressed and very agitated. Alzheimer's can also cause anxiety, hallucinations, insomnia and wandering.

It is not yet clear what causes Alzheimer's disease, and there is no known cure. Some scientists, however, hope that by researching common health risks that occur in the pre-elderly (age 40 to 60) stages of life, they will find links to a disease that is prevalent among the elderly.

Within the last 10 years, scientists have made great strides against deadly diseases that are most common among the elderly. There is a mounting body of evidence that indicates that several health threats of the elderly are interconnected.1 When studying the conditions that impinge on the elderly, scientists closely examine health conditions of the middle aged. Vital signs at midlife could help predict the development of Alzheimer's or, at least, the risks of developing Alzheimer's. Cholesterol, for example, has been identified as a significant risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

A Finnish Study

A Finnish study that followed 1,449 men and women from middle age to old age suggests that people with high cholesterol are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease later in life.1 Scientists measured the blood levels and cholesterol levels of the subjects in the 1970s, when they were in their 40s and 50s. The participants were examined again in 1998, when they were ages 65 to 79. After analyzing the data from the study, researchers concluded that those with high systolic blood pressure or high cholesterol levels were far.......read the whole article

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