Risk factors hint at later Alzheimer’s disease

A study has found that people who had two or more risk factors for vascular disease during their 50s were three times more likely to have higher levels of amyloid plaque — which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease — two decades later.

The results indicate that one’s health at midlife can help determine the risk of Alzheimer’s later on.

Because all of the risk factors that researchers examined — diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, smoking and high blood pressure — can be modified through diet, exercise and lifestyle, the study suggests that negative changes that occur in the brain with aging aren’t necessarily inevitable.

The study by researchers at the University of Mississippi Medical Center was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. — University of Mississippi Medical Center