Dementia News & Events

“More about preventing dementia and cholesterol levels”

A paper just published in the prestigious Journal of Neurology offers new evidence that drugs commonly used to lower cholesterol might also help to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. The paper, by Dr. Li and colleagues from Seattle, USA, investigated whether statins (a class of drugs very widely prescribed to lower cholesterol levels in the blood) reduced the number of a particular marker of Alzheimer’s disease in people’s brains.  The authors studied the brains of 110 people. Each person’s brain function was studied while he or she was alive, and then each person’s brain was analysed under the microscope after they had died. Of the 110 people, 36 had been treated with a statin at some time in their life; the other 74 had not. About the same proportion of people in each group developed dementia before they died. Even so, people who had used statins were less likely to have a high degree of tangles in their brain at autopsy than people who had not used statins. Tangles are an important marker of Alzheimer’s disease.  So too are plaques, but there was no difference in the number of plaques between the two groups.

This new research adds to the evidence about statins and dementia. The evidence, however, has been contradictory, with some groups showing that fewer people who take statins develop Alzheimer’s disease, while others show no such association. Until now, no clinical trial has shown that using statins prevents the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Until these clinical studies are available, we have to rely on studies which observe what happens to patients, but which are not controlled experiments.

Even though the study is not definitive, it does remind us about the importance of maintaining a healthy brain as a means of preventing Alzheimer’s disease.  This can be done by avoiding things that are bad for the brain, and doing things that helps it. Avoiding what is bad means not smoking, not drinking to excess, using a seatbelt when driving, and using a helmet when engaged in sports or activities that can result in a head injury. 

Doing things that are good for the brain means staying mentally active (reading, doing crossword puzzles, and especially learning new skills), exercising regularly (e.g. a good walk or more 3-5 times per week, for about 30 minutes each time) and staying active socially (having regular contact with family and friends, taking part in activities with other people).