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Frailty Affects Risk of Alzheimer’s and Physical Activity Improves Cognition

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Both the amount of physical activity and the level of frailty affect the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Increased physical activity improves cognition, and increased frailty increases the risk of Alzheimer’s. This provides another reason for keeping active as you age.

A study shows that those elderly with a high level of frailty were at increased risk for getting Alzheimer’s. The findings demonstrated that those with Alzheimer’s disease were twice as likely to be frail as those who did not have the pathology of this disease.

Due to the association of frailty and Alzheimer’s, the researchers suggest that when a person becomes frail, it might be a good time to test them for Alzheimer’s and perhaps diagnose it early, if it is developing.

The findings do not indicate whether being frail increases the risk of Alzheimer’s or whether becoming frail is associated with the development of the disease.

In another study, the level of physical activity was linked to cognition. Those who had higher physical activity levels were found to have higher cognition levels. Interestingly, this held true when the researchers measured activity, but not for self reported activity. Different people have different ideas of how much physical activity that they do.

Again it may be a chicken and egg situation. Does less activity lead to lower cognition, or are those who have lower cognition levels liable to do less exercise. I think I am not going to wait for them to find out, but will try to keep my moderate exercise (mainly walking) program. Better safe than sorry. I just want to poop out one day, and not have a long increasingly restricted decline. Time will tell.

photo credit: daniel arnold!

Technorati Tags: frailty, Alzheimer’s, physical activity, cognition

Popularity: 11% [?]

Live Longer And Happy

Apparently, if you are happy you are likely to live longer. New analysis suggests that being happy will make you live longer. This sounds like a no-brainer, but there has been research that showed it happiness has on effect on longevity, and even that it may shorten your life.

Before seeing this, I was unaware that there is a Journal of Happiness Studies. I was even more surprised to find that I can access it online. The most recent issue had articles including, Happiness in the Garden of Epicurus. We get the word epicure form this Greek philosopher. I now know, that according to him, the chief good was to decrease pain and increase pleasure. Sounds good to me.

According to the article

Happiness does not heal, but happiness protects against falling ill. As a result, happy people live longer. The size of the effect on longevity is comparable to that of smoking or not.

What is not clear is how they measure happiness and how exactly you can make yourself happy.

The studies do not address whether it is a direct or indirect effect on longevity. If you are happy, presumably you are less likely to engage in unhealthy behavior such as binge drinking or eating. A negative attitude is supposed to suppress your immune system, so perhaps you are less likely to get ill.

So to warp the Vulcan blessing, “Live Longer and Happy”.

photo credit: sutefani in orlando

Technorati Tags: happy, happiness, live longer, longevity

Popularity: 17% [?]

Phosphatidylserine – Anti-Aging For Memory And Skin?

Phosphatidylserine, commonly abbreviated to PS, is a fat that is a component of our cell membranes. It has previously been suggested to slow memory decline and improve understanding. New research suggests that application to the skin may slow aging of the skin.

In a number of trials studying memory in the elderly (humans and dogs), have suggested that there may be improvements in memory for those taking PS supplements. There are studies that have not shown an improvement, such as those testing patients who already have diagnosed Alzheimer’s. Probably it depends on who was tested and what types of tests were used. The data is sufficient for the FDA to allow labeling that PS may reduce the risk of cognitive dysfunction in the elderly.

Since PS is required for the normal function of membranes it may be that some people have insufficient levels in the cells of the brain.

PS is found in a range of foods including fish, poultry, leafy greens and beans. Supplements used to be made from cow brain which has high levels. However, since the outbreak of mad cow disease, brain is no longer used. Most lipids (fats) are not very stable when isolated, so if you buy supplements containing lipids, buy from a good source, get fresh batches and store carefully.

Recent research (PubMed) has shown that application of the skin may reduce the effects of UV damage to the skin. As we all know sunlight can damage skin. For example there is a decrease in procollagen (the precursor to collagen) expression. PS treated or untreated young skin was exposed to damaging amounts of UV. The PS treated skin showed less effects of the UV such as having a smaller decrease in procollagen expression than the untreated.

Aged skin (on the buttocks) was treated several weeks, three times per week and saw improvement in procollagen sysnthesis. So PS may soon be found in skin creams.

PS may be good for the inside and the outside!

photo credit: eschipul

Technorati Tags: phosphatidylserine, PS, memory, cognitive function, skin, aging, procollagen

Popularity: 49% [?]

Aging Brains Have Improved Function!

As we age we seem to have more trouble getting distracted and find it harder to concentrate. However, new research suggests in some respects that aging brains have improved function, and not that our brainpower is decreasing.

An article in the NYT describes some interesting studies that indicate that the loss of focus that occurs as we age is actually a benefit. The research suggests that as we get older we are actually taking in more information and sifting through it. The result is that though it slows us down and may make us more distracted, that choices and decisions are based on more data. This can mean that problem solving is improved, and perhaps we have more wisdom.

In studies when young and older adults were given readings that contained unexpected words and phrases. The younger participants were faster at completing the reading, and not distracted by the inappropriate words, reading almost as if they were not there. The older participants were slower, and got even slower if the unexpected words were relevant to the topic of the reading. However, later when the participants were asked questions about the “wrong but relevant” words and phrases, the older participants scored much better.

This research suggests that older adults are both retaining this data, and able to process the extra data.

The assimilation of a wide range of information and inputs can result in better decision-making. As noted in the article, “Such tendencies can yield big advantages in the real world, where it is not always clear what information is important, or will become important”, and “A broad attention span may enable older adults to ultimately know more about a situation and the indirect message of what’s going on than their younger peers. We believe that this characteristic may play a significant role in why we think of older people as wiser.”

So we are getting smarter!

photo credit: paperfairys

Technorati Tags: brain aging, brain function, wise

Popularity: 40% [?]

Burning Frankincense Incense May Help Anxiety And Depression

Burning incense, such as frankincense, has been a practice used for meditative and religious purposes for many years. It had been assumed that the benefits were in the practice, rather than the incense itself being beneficial for relaxation, anxiety and depression.

Many studies have looked at frankincense, which is resin from the Boswellia trees. The trees are slashed and the resin is exuded through the wound. After it has hardened into “tears” it is collected.

Boswellic acids which are found in frankincense have been suggested to be anti-inflammatory and have a range of properties. There is still some argument about these acids and their role in cancer, colitis and other inflammatory diseases.

Recent research has identified another compound in frankincense that is called incensole acetate. This compound has been shown to have anti-inflammatory properties and to be neuroprotective.

Incensole acetate has now been suggested to act on a class on ion channels (TRPV4) in the brain that may be involved in anxiety and depression. If this is confirmed by further research it shows that burning incense may be good for calming and mood elevation. It also provides a basis for the potential development of a new class of anti-anxiety and anti-depressive drugs.

So - the beneficial effects of incense on anxiety and depression that have been claimed for centuries but pooh-poohed by most of science, now do in fact have a sound scientific basis.

Note: There is a shortage of frankincense due to an increased demand and overtapping of trees. Research has suggested that overtapped trees are not producing as many healthy seeds and so the numbers of new trees produced is dropping.

photo credit: garryknight

Technorati Tags: frankincense, incense, anxiety, depression

Popularity: 52% [?]

Type Of Memory Training That Works

We have different types of memory. Researchers have found that one type called fluid memory can be improved by training.

Fluid memory is the ability to adapt to a completely new situation or problem. It is considered important in learning, and high levels are associated with success in both professional and educational arenas. The level of fluid intelligence that a person has was thought to be inherited and generally not taught.

However recent studies have shown that with certain training that fluid memory can be increased. Two groups one with the training and one without were compared in standard tests to find a missing pattern. The untrained group improved as they took the test several times over a period of weeks as they got better at taking the tests. However, those with the training improved much more.

The training was like a more complicated version of kids card memory games. Briefly, on a computer screen the participants were shown squares at different locations. At the same time in headphones there were the sounds of individual consonants. When something presented matched something a certain number of steps back a key was to be pressed. The level of difficulty was continually adjusted individually for each participant, to make it neither too easy nor too hard, and to keep the interest level high.

The type of memory that was being trained is working memory. This is the short term memory that we use for remembering things like telephone numbers.

The training probably helped to focus on the task at hand and block out other irrelevant stuff and multitask.

This increased ability to block out irrelevant stuff is interesting for aging. Since one of the reasons for decreasing memory as we age, is that we become more easily distracted and find it harder to focus on a single thing.

photo credit: Corey (a.k.a. Ten0fnine)

Technorati Tags: fluid memory, memory training

Popularity: 40% [?]

Portion and Wrap To Consume Less

Are there things that you wish to decrease your consumption of? Food and money spring to mind? An interesting way to do this may be to divide and wrap things.

A new study suggests that you will consume less, if something is split up into portions rather than presented as one.

In the first of two sets of experiments, participants were given 24 cookies and asked to report how long it took to consume them. Half the participants got all the cookies in one box, the other half received a box with every cookie individually wrapped. The average time of consumption for those who got the cookies together in one box was 6 days. For those who got the individually wrapped cookies it took an average of 24 days (!). I am sure being in a study slowed the consumption of both groups. However, it is quite striking that those having individually wrapped cookies took so much longer to consume them all.

It makes sense that if they are individually wrapped it is much harder to graze. Additionally, to eat a cookie you have to make the decision to unwrap it; there is more time to consider your action.

In another set of experiments, participants were given $100 of fake money in a gambling study. Half got all the money in one envelope, the other half got 10 sealed envelopes with $10 in each. Those with the money divided between 10 envelopes tended to spend less. Again presumably giving the participants more time to consider their action and having to commit to opening an envelope.

So perhaps the thing to do is when you get food that you don’t want to consume immediately is to split it up and wrap it some way in individual packets. I am going to give it a try with chocolate. Money will be trickier to control this way, since we are a credit card society and most of us don’t use that much cash.

The study is described in Science News.

photo credit: stu_spivack

Technorati Tags: portion, divide, consume, eating, gambling,

Popularity: 39% [?]

Drinking Wine May Stave Off Dementia?

Perhaps, finally a good piece of news for us boozers. A long-term study has shown that in a large population, that those who drank wine were less likely to have a diagnosis of dementia at the time of death.

There have been a number of studies that have linked wine consumption to a decreased risk of dementia. The lower level of dementia was not found in those that consumed other alcoholic beverages. So the cynics can take back the comment, “that the reason that there was less dementia at the time of the death was due to premature deaths due to drunk driving.”

Of course, a cynic could then point out, there is a reverse problem with the statistical correlation. Are those who are in the really early stages of dementia, maybe years and years before diagnosis, for some reason less likely to drink wine? The studies do not answer this question.

When presented with the newest scientific health study, it is actually worth being cynical. Sometimes the cynic can easily be rebutted, but at other times until there is more data or a different study, the cynic might be right.

Question authority (that includes every one of us).

However, I am going to believe the studies and have a glass of medicinal wine.

photo credit: Cane Rosso (molto poco online…)

Technorati Tags: red wine, dementia, scientific study

Popularity: 50% [?]

The Brain Can Sense Calories

This is not good news! Independent of taste, the brain can sense calories. This means that eating is not just driven by taste. This may give clues as to why high fructose corn syrup consumption is linked to obesity.

Studies showed that mice genetically engineered to not be able to taste sweet, still preferred sugar solutions over those that contained a non-calorific sweetener. Analysis of the brains showed as in normal mice the “reward circuitry” was switched on in the brains of the non sweet tasting mice, when they drank sugar solutions. So the mice could somehow sense the sugar independent of taste.

This awareness of calories means that the body can somehow sense the calorie content of at least some foods. This ability was probably important for primitive humans, when we were assessing which foods were best to eat for energy for hunting etc.

Now the ability to sense calories and get pleasure from them is bad news for most of us, since it may encourage us to keep eating, well after our calorie requirements have been met.

This may have implications for the link between consumption of high fructose corn syrup and obesity. As stated in a commentary on the research it has been shown that, “evidence suggests that fructose is not as effective as sucrose in terminating a meal. It may be that fructose produces stronger activation of the reward system and that removing high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener will curb some desire for these products.”

With our current lifestyles and the wide availability of food, sometimes I think we are just doomed.

The study is in Neuron 57: 930-941, 2008 and the commentary in Neuron 57: 806-808, 2008 (not indexed by PubMed yet, so references are not linked).
photo credit: Uwe Hermann

Technorati Tags: brain, calories, high fructose corn syrup, food reward

Popularity: 88% [?]

StickK at Losing Weight or Stopping Smoking

I heard about a novel idea on the radio this morning for an incentive to lose weight or stopping smoking, which works for some people. It is based on an economic theory called Time Inconsistency combined with Loss Aversion. The Time Inconsistency theory says that a goal at the moment may be inconsistent with long-term goals. The example that was used was; “ I may prefer to enjoy an extra cookie today, even though my preference for tomorrow is to be slimmer”. Loss Aversion is human nature; people hate to lose something valuable.

The idea for weight loss, stopping smoking, or other difficult task is that you set goals and then if you don’t reach any goal you lose something valuable such as money. So Loss Aversion overrides Time Inconsistency.

The program described a plan in Philippines that was set up by a local bank. Smokers, who wanted to quit, put money each week in a savings account for six months. If they didn’t smoke during that time they got the money back with the interest. If they smoked (they agreed to undergo urine tests for nicotine) they lost their money.

For something like weight loss this can have one long-term goal, or probably better weekly goals. Let’s say your goal is to lose 2 lbs each week. You give an amount of money each week. This amount of money has to be something that is significant for you. Each week you meet your goal the money remains in the savings account, or wherever it is. Any week that you don’t lose 2 lbs that money is lost, for instance being donated to a charity.

Two Yale Professors have set up a website stickK.com that helps guide you through the process, provides additional information and will in the future commitment communities. Read more and listen to an audio of the program.

Technorati Tags: stickK.com, loss aversion, time inconsistency, weight loss, stop smoking

Popularity: 40% [?]

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