Does Double Dutch Delay Dementia?

G’day, Zao shang hao, Bonjour, Kalimera, Boker tov, God morgen, Buon giomo, Bom dia, Zdravstvuyitye, Buenos dias!

Or if you prefer – Good Morning!

No it’s not one of those guess the country viral Facebook quizzes (although we will print the answers at the bottom of this post for those of you who want to play along).  No, the reason for today’s multilingual greetings is because a new study has shown that speaking more than one language can delay the onset of, not one, not two…but three types of dementia.

In the largest study on the topic to date, published this week in the online issue of Neurology, researchers found that people who spoke two languages developed dementia four and a half years later than people who only spoke one language.

“Our study is the first to report an advantage of speaking two languages in people who are unable to read, suggesting that a person’s level of education is not a sufficient explanation for this difference,” said study author Suvarna Alladi. “Speaking more than one language is thought to lead to better development of the areas of the brain that handle executive functions and attention tasks, which may help protect from the onset of dementia.”

For the study, 648 people from India with an average age of 66 who were diagnosed with dementia were evaluated. Of those, 391 spoke two or more languages. A total of 240 had Alzheimer’s disease, 189 had vascular dementia and 116 had frontotemporal dementia, with the remainder having dementia with Lewy bodies and mixed dementia. Fourteen percent were illiterate.

People who spoke two languages had a later onset of Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia than people who spoke only one language. The difference was also found in those who could not read. There was no additional benefit in speaking more than two languages.

The two-language effect on age of dementia onset was shown separately of other factors such as education, gender, occupation and whether participants lived in the city or country.

“These results offer strong evidence for the protective effect of bilingualism against dementia in a population very different from those studied so far in terms of its ethnicity, culture and patterns of language use,” Alladi said.

While the study didn’t show any additional benefit in speaking more than two languages, we don’t think it hurts to try.

How many languages do you speak?

Answers:

G’day [Australia] Zao shang hao [China], Bonjour [France] Kalimera [Greece] Boker tov [Israel] ,God morgen [Denmark], Buon giomo [Italy], Bom dia [Portugal], Zdravstvuyitye [Russia], Buenos dias [Spain]

Snuffing Out Alzheimer’s

Hot on the heels of Friday’s blog – Sniffing Out Alzheimer’s, British scientists just announced a major breakthrough that could, one day, result in a treatment for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

In tests on mice, researchers from the toxicology unit of the Medical Research Council showed brain cell death from prion disease could be prevented.

Professor Roger Morris, from King’s College London, said: “This finding, I suspect, will be judged by history as a turning point in the search for medicines to control and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.”

It is rare to get cautious scientists keen to describe any study as a turning point in history, let alone a study in mice.

Not only is it is early science, a lot can go wrong between a drug for mice and a drug for humans and the only published data is for prion disease, not even Alzheimer’s.

So why the excitement?

It is the first time that any form of neurodegeneration has been completely halted, so it is a significant landmark. It shows that the process being targeted has serious potential.

The research team focused on the natural defense mechanisms built into brain cells. When a virus hijacks a brain cell it leads to a build-up of viral proteins. Cells respond by shutting down nearly all protein production in order to halt the virus’s spread.

However, many neurodegenerative diseases involve the production of faulty or “misfolded” proteins. These activate the same defenses, but with more severe consequences. The misfolded proteins linger and the brain cells shut down protein production for so long that they eventually starve themselves to death.

This process, repeated in neurons throughout the brain, can destroy movement or memory or even kill, depending on the disease.  It  is thought to take place in many forms of neurodegeneration, so safely disrupting it could treat a wide range of diseases.

The researchers used a compound which prevented those defense mechanisms kicking in and in turn halted neurodegeneration.

The study showed mice with prion disease developed severe memory and movement problems. They died within 12 weeks. However, those given the compound showed no sign of brain tissue wasting away.

Lead researcher Professor Giovanna Mallucci says: “They were absolutely fine, it was extraordinary. What’s really exciting is a compound has completely prevented neurodegeneration and that’s a first. This isn’t the compound you would use in people, but it means we can do it and it’s a start.“

She said the compound offered a “new pathway that may well give protective drugs” and the next step was for drug companies to develop a medicine for use in humans.

Side effects are an issue. The compound also acted on the pancreas, meaning the mice developed a mild form of diabetes and lost weight. Any human drug would need to act only on the brain.

David Allsop, professor of neuroscience at Lancaster University described the results as “very dramatic and highly encouraging.”

SRxA’s Word on Health agrees.  We look forward to seeing further research and how these findings could apply to diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Sniffing Out Alzheimer’s

A dollop of peanut butter and a ruler might be a way to confirm a diagnosis of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Jennifer Stamps, a graduate student in the McKnight Brain Institute Center for Smell and Taste, came up with the idea of using peanut butter to test for smell sensitivity.  when she was working with Kenneth Heilman MD, a professor of neurology at the University of Florida.

One of the first places in the brain to degenerate in people with Alzheimer’s disease is the front part of the temporal lobe that evolved from the smell system. This portion of the brain is also involved in forming new memories. The ability to smell is associated with the first cranial nerve – the olfactory nerve.

Because peanut butter is a “pure odorant,” it is only detected by the olfactory nerve.

In a small pilot study, patients sat down with a clinician, a tablespoon of peanut butter and a metric ruler.

The patient closed his or her eyes and mouth and blocked one nostril. The clinician opened the peanut butter container and held the ruler next to the open nostril while the patient breathed normally. The clinician then moved the peanut butter up the ruler one centimeter at a time during the patient’s exhale until the person could detect an odor.

The distance was recorded and the procedure repeated on the other nostril after a 90-second delay.

The clinicians running the test did not know the patients’ diagnoses, which were not usually confirmed until weeks after the initial clinical testing.

Patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease had a dramatic difference in detecting odor between the left and right nostril – their left nostril did not detect the smell until it was an average of 10 centimeters (almost 4 inches) closer to the nose than the right nostril.

This was not the case in patients with other kinds of dementia. These patients had either no differences in odor detection between nostrils or the right nostril was worse at detecting odor than the left one.

Of the 24 patients tested who had mild cognitive impairment, which sometimes signals Alzheimer’s disease and sometimes turns out to be something else, about 10 patients showed a left nostril impairment and 14 patients did not. The researchers said more studies must be conducted to fully understand the implications.

“At the moment, we can use this test to confirm diagnosis,” Stamps says. “But we plan to study patients with mild cognitive impairment to see if this test might be used to predict which patients are going to get Alzheimer’s disease.”

Many of the tests used to confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias can be time-consuming, costly, or invasive.  In contrast, according to the researchers their peanut butter and ruler test could be used by clinics that don’t have access to the personnel or equipment to run other, more elaborate tests required for a specific diagnosis.

And of course there’s the benefit that you can eat the test afterwards!

Like this post?  Check back on Monday for more ground breaking Alzheimer’s news.

10 Brain Damaging Habits

According to the World Health Organization here’s 10 habits that can severely damage your brain:

1.  No Breakfast – Skipping breakfast in order to lose weight or save time is totally wrong and directly affects our brain. Those who don’t take breakfast or take unhealthy breakfast having lower blood sugar level and sometime it may cause overweight.

2. Overreacting – causes hardening of the brain arteries, leading to a decrease in mental power.

3. High Sugar consumption – Too much sugar will interrupt the absorption of proteins and nutrients causing malnutrition and may interfere with brain development by reducing the production of Brain Derived Neutrotrophic Factor, without which the brain cannot learn.

4. Smoking – causes brain shrinkage, damages memory, judgment, learning and thinking powers and may even lead to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

5. Air Pollution – The brain is the largest oxygen consumer in our body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the supply of oxygen to the brain, bringing about a decrease in brain efficiency.

6. Sleep Deprivation – Sleep allows our brain to rest. Long term deprivation from sleep will accelerate the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping – Sleeping with the head covered decreases available air space and forces you to start breathing carbon dioxide instead of oxygen. This leads to a rise in intracranial pressure and results in brain hypoxia which may lead to brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness – Working hard or studying with sickness may lead to a decrease in effectiveness of the brain. When we are sick the brain is at its weakest and becomes more easily stressed. This stress can also affect memory.

9. Drinking too little water – Water is the main source of energy and is essential for brain function and activity of neurotransmitters. Dehydration can lead to anger, stress, exhaustion, depression and lack of mental clarity.

10. Rarely Talking – Intellectual conversations help to train and promote efficiency of the brain. Conversely, lack of stimulating thoughts may cause brain shrinkage. Reading SRxA’s Word on Health and discussing the content with friends is an excellent way to avoid this!  So grab a glass of water and subscribe today. Consider it free brain fuel!

Drinking our way to brain fitness

As we reported last week, drinking the occasional glass of wine might help to stave off depression. This week we learned how to better protect ourselves from that wine we’ve been drinking!

Previous studies have shown that long-term alcohol abuse increases the risk of dementia. But according to new research from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, omega-3 fish oil might help protect against alcohol-related dementia.

The Loyola study found that in the brain cells of rats exposed to high levels of alcohol, a fish oil compound protected against inflammation and cell death.

The study by Michael Collins, PhD, and colleagues was reported Sept. 8 at the 14th Congress of the European Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism.  An earlier analysis by Collins and Loyola colleague Edward Neafsey, PhD, which pooled the results of 143 studies, found that moderate social drinking may reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.

It appears that small amounts of alcohol might, in effect, make brain cells more fit. Alcohol in moderate amounts stresses cells and thus toughens them up to cope with major stresses down the road that could cause dementia.

However, as always, moderation is the key! Too much alcohol overwhelms the cells, leading to inflammation and cell death. The study authors defined moderate as one drink per day for women and two for men.

In the new study, Collins and colleagues exposed cultures of adult rat brain cells to amounts of alcohol equivalent to more than four times the legal limit for driving. These cell cultures were compared with cultures of brain cells exposed to the same high levels of alcohol, plus a compound found in fish oil called omega-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).  Researchers found there was about 90% less neuroinflammation and neuronal death in the brain cells exposed to DHA and alcohol than in the cells exposed to alcohol alone.

Of course, being a health blog we should point out that the best way for an alcohol abuser to protect their brain is to quit drinking or to cut back to moderate amounts.  But as Collins says: “Fish oil has the potential of helping preserve brain integrity in abusers. At the very least, it wouldn’t hurt them.”

Forgetting Your Cold Sore?

Cold sores. Annoying, embarrassing, uncomfortable. Enough to drive you crazy?

Not quite. However, according to a new study the virus that causes cold sores may be associated with cognitive problems such as difficulties with memory and thinking.

During the study researchers from New York and Miami tested thinking and memory in 1,625 people. Participants gave blood samples that were tested for five common low grade infections: herpes simplex type 1 (oral) and type 2 (genital), cytomegalovirus, chlamydia pneumoniae (a common respiratory infection) and Helicobacter pylori (a bacteria found in the stomach).  The memory and thinking skills were tested every year for an average of eight years.

The results showed that the people who had higher levels of infection had a 25% increase in the risk of a low score on the Mini-Mental State Examination – a 30-point questionnaire that is commonly used to screen for cognitive impairment and dementia.

In other words, those who had higher levels of anti-viral antibodies in their blood, meaning they had been exposed over the years to various pathogens, were more likely to have cognitive problems than people with lower levels of infection in the blood.

“We found the link was greater among women, those with lower levels of education and Medicaid or no health insurance, and most prominently, in people who do not exercise,” said author Mira Katan, MD. “While this association needs to be further studied, the results could lead to ways to identify people at risk of cognitive impairment and eventually lower that risk.”

The authors suggest that exercise and childhood vaccinations against viruses could decrease the risk for memory problems later in life.

Just one more reason for us all to get vaccinated and stay fit!

Papal Poor Health

On February 11, Pope Benedict XVI stunned the Catholic Church and the world when he announced his resignation by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on.

At 8pm local time yesterday, he ended his difficult reign, marking the first time in six centuries a pope has resigned instead of ruling for life.

But what do we really know of his health or that of other popes before him?

The Vatican recently confirmed Benedict had a pacemaker for years, indicating a long-standing heart problem. And his older brother told the press that age had taken its toll.

Other observers have noticed the pope’s reduced energy. The press reported that he was ferried to the altar at St. Peter’s for Midnight Mass Christmas Eve on a wheeled platform and then appeared to doze off during the service.

Visiting Mexico last year, he awoke at night and couldn’t locate a light switch in his room, then fell and bloodied his head when he hit the bathroom sink.

Beyond these few facts, we know very little about the health problems that led Benedict to announce his retirement. We don’t even really know if his flagging stamina was the true reason behind his resignation.

And while Pope Benedict XVI might be the first Holy Father to voluntarily resign because of old age and deteriorating health, the papacy has a past medical history of poor health.  According to the history books, these ailments range from depression to gout to cancer.

According to church law, as long as a pope is able to conduct Mass, he can continue in his role even if he is suffering, in pain or even bedridden, as was the case with Pope Alexander VII.

Pope Alexander VII’s surgeon and confessor tried to persuade him not to go before the crowd on Easter Sunday of 1667, but he did it anyway. The pope died three days later, according to author Wendy J. Reardon in The Deaths of the Popes.”

More than a century later, Pope Clement XIV became known as the pope who drooled and had eyes that “darted in their bulging sockets” as he fearfully clung to walls for fear of a Jesuit assassination attempt. He died after correctly predicting his own death in 1774.

In 1958, Pope Pius XII died after enduring recurring bouts of hiccoughs for five years. At one point, his hiccoughs became so intense, that they tore the lining of his stomach. He died of complications from pneumonia at 82 years old.

Pope John Paul II, was sick until he died on April 2, 2005 at 85 years old. He lived with Parkinson ‘s disease for decades, but he died of cardio-respiratory failure, kidney failure and septic shock.

“Death has never been an issue that has worried popes,” says papal historian Anura Guruge,  “Popes talk about no purgatory for popes.” Instead they believe if God is ready for a new pope, he will simply call the current one home to heaven where they will immediately be admitted to God’s house and be in the presence of the Holy Father. Not surprising then, that many popes have gone so far as to express enormous amounts of joy on their death beds.

Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, was one of the oldest popes when he was elected in 2005 at age 78. In 1991 he had a stroke that reportedly temporarily affected his vision. He fell in 1992 and again 2009. He was also thought to have either arthritis or arthrosis, a similarly painful and debilitating joint condition.

Father Virgilio Elizondo, a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, said he thinks Pope Benedict XVI made a very difficult but wise decision by resigning. He added that the papacy has a history of unpredictability, and the surprise resignation fits right in.

“I think when you consider the sincerity of the man, when you consider the weight of the universal church, and the greatest variety of issues affecting the church and the rest of the world, I could see how he could come to that decision,” says Elizondo. “What’s really needed is a younger person with more vigor and up-to-date knowledge about what’s happening. I think that’s the rationality behind this pope.”

But not everyone agrees.  “This pope’s resigning is essentially overriding God’s will,” said Guruge. “We had suspected that he had more health issues than had been made public. … A pope resigning is really not the right thing to do.”

Pope Benedict XVI was just 73 days away from being the third oldest pope. However, he will remain the fourth oldest pope because his resigned before his 86^th birthday. The three older popes were Pope Clement X, who lived to be just over 86 years old; Pope Clement XII, who lived to be 87; and Pope Leo XIII, who before his death at 93 was known as the “eternal pope” because he kept on living! Back then, it might be argued, the job was less demanding because the pope didn’t have to be on television or travel the world or tweet.

The Growing Cost of Aging

With the election looming, we’ve heard a lot of rhetoric about healthcare. Rising costs, limited access, reforming Medicare…the list goes on and on.  Whatever happens on November 6, it seems the American public has already spoken. According to new research just unveiled at the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting, the cost of lifestyle drugs now exceeds the cost for medications used to treat chronic disease.

The research suggests that medicines used to treat conditions considered a normal part of aging, including those related to hormone replacement therapy, sexual dysfunction, menopause, aging skin, hair loss and mental alertness, are becoming so popular that they now rank third.  Only diabetes and high cholesterol have a greater cost impact among commercially insured patients.

Researchers at Express Scripts in St. Louis looked at trends in prescriptions filled for aging medications.  In 2011 alone, the cost per person for aging medications ($73.30) was 16% greater than the amount spent on both high blood pressure and heart disease medications ($62.80).  The cost for diabetes medications was $81.12 and high cholesterol medications was $78.38.

The research found that among these insured individuals use of drugs to treat the physical impact associated with normal aging was up 18.5% and costs increased nearly 46% from 2006 to 2011. Increased use of these drugs was even more pronounced for the Medicare population (age 65+), up 32% from 2007 to 2011. The largest utilization jump among Medicare beneficiaries was from 2010 to 2011, up more than 13% and outpacing increases in the use of drugs for diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure combined.

“At a time when people are forgoing care due to rising health costs, this study reveals a growing trend on where the public is placing its healthcare dollars,” said Reethi Iyengar, PhD, researcher at Express Scripts.  “Continued monitoring and potential management may be warranted for this category of medications.”

While there is no doubt that pharmaceutical advances and greater awareness have improved the quality of life for many aging Americans what was not known, until now, is the significant cost associated with treating these conditions. Couple that with the proliferation of people living longer and it’s clear that managing the trend and spend from treating conditions associated with aging will become increasingly important.

The United States is in the midst of a profound demographic change, with the number of elderly people projected to reach nearly 20% of the entire population by 2030, up from less than 13% in 2009. This increase will continue to drive both use and costs of medications to treat the natural conditions of aging.

But the problem may be even bigger. The greatest growth in cost per insured was seen among the 45 to 54 age group – up almost 21% over the last five-years. And because the study only analyzed prescription medications it may have underestimated the total costs of aging treatments, which include a variety of over-the-counter medications, cosmetic treatments and surgery.

Seems getting old hurts not only our bodies, but our wallets and the economy too.

iPods help Seniors re live their past and regain memories

For as long as humans have pounded drums and plucked strings, listening to music has affected people’s sense of well-being, lifting their spirits, and calming their nerves.  Now, a new film suggests that the right music can change the lives of people suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The documentary “Alive Inside” shows the transformative power of music as several elderly dementia patients are given iPods loaded with their favorite music.

The film follows social worker Dan Cohen, who decides on a whim to bring iPods to a nursing home.  To his and the staff’s surprise many residents suffering from memory loss seem to “awaken” when they are able to listen to music from their past.  The previously unresponsive seniors quickly start to tap their toes, swing their hands, and, incredibly, start having long discussions about their passion for music and its role in their lives.

One man – Henry – becomes especially impassioned when he is asked what music means to him. “It gives me the feeling of love, romance,” he says. “I figure right now the world needs to come into music. The Lord came to me and made me holy, I’m a holy man. So he give me these sounds.”

With great excitement, Dan turns to renowned neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, and the film follows them both as they investigate the mysterious way music functions inside our brains and our lives.

Sacks best known as the author of 12 books, including: The Mind’s Eye, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Musicophilia says “Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience. Music evokes emotion and emotion can bring with it memory and the feeling of life when nothing else can.”

Besides telling a moving story, the film’s producers hope it will encourage widespread adoption of personalized music programs in nursing homes and that it will inspire and educate the millions of people burdened by diseases that affect memory.  They also hope to create a grassroots demand for music therapy and potentially help not only patients but also caregivers across the globe.

Although Alive Inside focuses on one man’s journey, it raises many questions about what it means to be Alive Inside. It questions when we stop being human, and what it takes to re-start a life that has faded away. It asks questions about how we see our elderly, and how we are going to treat an epidemic of these degenerative diseases.

The filmmakers have had an early trailer online for more than a year, but it recently premiered in New York and interest has exploded in recent days, thanks to social media sites such as Facebook and Reddit  They have also been able to raise over $50,000 to make an edited version of the film and obtain copyright approval for songs heard on the film.

Producer /  Director Michael Rossato-Bennett says following the work of Cohen and Sacks was one of the most fulfilling things he has done during his 30-year filmmaking and photography career.

“Usually when you make a film you wait for a moment to make you cry and it might take three months,” he said. “On the first day of filming I cried like five times. There is something in seeing another person awaken. That does something to all of us.”

For more information about the film and music and memory please click here.