Worried about cognitive decline later in life? Then quit smoking and start exercising.
Kristin Yaffe, director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco, said: She spoke about her findings Wednesday as part of a panel of Palm Beach physicians hosted by the Alzheimer's Disease Drug Discovery Foundation.
“At the end of two years, people who received this individualized intervention to reduce their risk factors significantly outperformed the control group on cognitive tests, with the difference being around 75% better. “I understand,” Jaffe said.
Risk factors identified in Yaffe's study include high blood pressure, diabetes, irregular sleep schedules, smoking, lack of exercise, and diet. She and her team tracked a total of 12 pre-existing conditions and less-than-ideal habits among the participants in her study.
“So the premise is… if you can change people's risk factors… you can actually make changes at the population level,” she told the audience, numbering about 220 people.
Sponsored by the Society of the Four Arts, Wednesday's sold-out event was part one of ADDF's three-part “Today's Tomorrow's Breakthroughs: Science Symposium Series.” Joining Yaffe on stage was ADDF co-founder and chief scientific officer, and geriatrician Howard Fillitt, who was the moderator.
Ronald and Leonard Lauder, of Palm Beach, founded the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation with Fillit in 1988 after their mother, Estée Lauder, died of Alzheimer's disease. The venture charity aims to raise funds to fund research into drugs to prevent, treat and cure degenerative brain diseases.
Although Dr. Yaffe's study focused on patients who were approximately 70 years old, the study is significant given the currently accepted science that Alzheimer's disease is likely to develop decades before symptoms appear. doctors emphasized.
“If it's going to take that long, there are a lot of things we can intervene on,” Yaffe said. “And I think middle age is a really important time when you can really try to change some of these behaviors.”
Fillit cited Yaffe's research and said cases of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, could be reduced by 40% if risk factors were controlled.
But they say one of the challenges in addressing risk factors is that they often seem unrelated, like sleep.
“No one knew why we spend a third of our time sleeping,” Jaffe says.
He said it's only in the last decade that researchers have begun to understand the processes that occur while people are resting, such as how sleep can help the brain eliminate toxins.
“Several studies conducted in animal models have found that not putting animals to sleep or disrupting their sleep actually increases the accumulation of tau and amyloid, which are important proteins in Alzheimer's disease.” Yaffe said.
One of the more surprising findings discussed was the correlation between vision loss and hearing loss and cognitive degeneration.
“There was a big trial that just ended six months ago where hearing aids were actually used,” Yaffe said. “It was a bit of a complicated answer, but as it turns out, hearing aids actually seem to reduce changes in cognitive function compared to people who have hearing loss and don't use hearing aids.”
Yaffe also emphasized what he believes is one of the most important concepts in understanding brain health: that the brain “continues to grow and change.” This includes changes due to positive factors such as exercise.
“The hippocampus is a very important part of the brain involved in memory and learning,” she said. “And when you look at people before they exercise and after six months of exercise their hippocampus actually grows, which is amazing.”
The key to the benefits of exercise, Yaffe says, is the fact that exercise is thought to trigger the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein in the brain and spinal cord. It is essential for the growth and survival of nerve cells in the eyes and brain, and also helps communication between cells occur in the brain.
Fillit said continued research into BDNF, which he described as “the most powerful neuroprotective factor in the body,” has led ADDF to fund medical research for its application.
“The drug is now beginning to move toward the clinic,” Fillit said.
Beyond lifestyle changes, further research into the risk factors that influence Alzheimer's disease could lead to the development of new treatments, he said.
One example he pointed to is diabetes and the injectable drug Ozempic, which lowers blood sugar levels and increases the body's production of insulin, while also reducing the amount of sugar produced by the liver. It also slows the rate at which food passes through your gastrointestinal tract, making you feel fuller for longer.
Fillit said that as people age, their brains lose the ability to process glucose, their primary energy source.
“Insulin resistance in the brain can lead to neurodegeneration, and Ozempic could be the first obesity treatment drug to prove highly effective against diabetes and possibly Alzheimer's disease.” “I think it's very sensitive,” he said. .
Given the wide range of comorbidities this drug could potentially address, Fillit called it perhaps “the first FDA-approved anti-aging drug.”
Near the end of their talks, both doctors praised advances in biomarker research, including the creation of blood tests to measure susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease.
“We'll be able to track it, and if it (the biomarker) is low, we'll be able to reassure people, and if it's high, we'll be able to motivate people to find good treatments,” Yaffe said. Ta.
Diego Díaz Lhasa is palm beach daily news, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network.you can contact him dlasa@pbdailynews.com. Please support our journalism. Subscribe now.