All posts tagged: dementia risk

Blood-based aging clock predicts dementia risk years before symptoms

Blood-based aging clock predicts dementia risk years before symptoms

Published by Jenni Sidey

A person’s body can age faster than the calendar suggests, and that gap may carry important clues about dementia risk. In a study of more than 220,000 UK Biobank participants, researchers at King’s College London found that people whose biological age appeared older than their chronological age were more likely to develop dementia over time. They were also more likely to develop it sooner. The pattern was especially strong for vascular dementia, a form linked to reduced blood flow in the brain. The work points to a simple idea with large consequences. Two people may be the same age on paper, but one may show signs of faster internal aging in the blood. That difference, the researchers say, could help identify people who face a greater chance of dementia before symptoms begin. “Our findings suggest that biological ageing data can help identify individuals at risk of dementia before clinical symptoms emerge,” said lead author Dr. Julian Mutz, King’s Prize Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London. “By combining …

At-home blood and brain tests revolutionize early dementia screening

At-home blood and brain tests revolutionize early dementia screening

Published by Jenni Sidey

A blood sample small enough to come from a finger prick, paired with a set of online thinking tests, may offer a new way to sort who faces the greatest risk of dementia. This approach could do so without sending everyone into a clinic. That is the promise behind new research from the University of Exeter, published in Nature Communications. The study tested whether blood markers collected at home and mailed to a lab matched changes in memory and thinking. The answer, the team found, was yes. At least, it was well enough to suggest a practical role as a triage tool. The idea is not to diagnose dementia from your kitchen table. Instead, it is to help identify who may need a closer look, who might benefit from monitoring, and who is less likely to need follow-up right away. Professor Anne Corbett of the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the work, said: “Our previous research has shown that a finger-prick blood test can effectively be taken at home and posted to labs, …

Low Vitamin D May Raise Dementia Risk, New Study Finds

Low Vitamin D May Raise Dementia Risk, New Study Finds

Published by Sam Flores

Many people’s vitamin D levels do not fall within a healthy range, which can cause muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, bone pain and lower immune function. In fact, an estimated 60% of the world is vitamin D deficient and needs a supplement, Dr. Michael Holick, a professor of medicine, pharmacology, physiology & biophysics and molecular medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, previously told HuffPost. But if that alone isn’t enough to convince you to prioritise getting vitamin D, which you can do through foods like salmon, tuna, and milk, new research published in the journal Neurology this month may do the trick. The study suggests that people with high vitamin D levels in their 30s and 40s have lower dementia risk factors later in life. The study investigates the potential impact of vitamin D levels in early midlife by examining the prevalence of tau protein and amyloid protein in the brain, “which are key hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dr. Thomas M. Holland, physician-scientist and assistant professor at the Rush Institute for Healthy …