Tag Archives: cognitive function

A positive outlook on life helps brain function in later life, new research reveals.

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Researchers have found that pensioners aged between 80 and 100 who have a positive outlook on life can enjoy better cognitive function that people in their fifties.
Medical experts were stunned when they carried out research on ‘super-agers’, who despite having many symptoms associated with dementia, seemed not to be affected by the condition.

In spite of the fact many of the super-agers had unhealthy habits including smoking and drinking, researchers found what they had in common was a positive attitude in life and an unusually high proportion of the rare brain called called the von Economo neuron.

Professor Emily Rogalski, of the Northwestern University in Chicago, examined the brains of 10 super-agers who underwent examination while they were alive and after they had died. They were part of a group of 74 super-agers followed by the research.
Rogalski said in a paper she is presenting to the American Association for the Advancement of Science she is presenting today: “The findings suggest that super-agers have unique personality profiles.Excellent memory capacity is biologically possible in late life and can be maintained for years even when there is significant neuropathologic burden.'”

Her research found that 71 per cent of super-agers smoked and 83 per cent drank alcohol regularly. However Rogalski estimated that less than five per cent of the population are super-agers.

The von Economo neurons which were present in super-agers are only found in the brains of large mammals and are believed to offer highspeed connections between different regions within the brain. They are known to develop in the late stages of pregnancy and early childhood and could be down to luck.

Rogalski’s study could provide a breakthrough in dementia research. In contrast to much of the dementia research carried out to date, it does not focus on trying to reverse the spread of amyloid and tau, deformed proteins that form lumps in the brains of people with dementia.

 

Drinking traditional tea helps prevent memory loss

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Drinking as little as one to three cups a day helps older people’s brain function, according to a new study from Singapore.
The positive effects of tea drinking were particularly beneficial to woman, the study of 1,500 men and women revealed. And drinking more than four cups a day cut the odds of memory failing by three-quarters.
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The study looked at the effects of Ceylon (Sri Lankan) tea and showed that just one to three cups of Ceylon tea a day had an effect, cutting the odds of cognitive decline by 43 per cent.
Anti-oxidant compounds in tea are thought to protect against the poisons that ravage the brain in Alzheimer’s.One plant chemical, theanine, is found only in tea and in mushrooms.
Experts in the US recently  analysed several studies on the effect of caffeinated drinks on memory and mental alertness. The thousands of men and women who took part logged how often they drank tea or coffee and did a memory test that is used in the initial stages of diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease. They discovered that tea was more beneficial than coffee which has more caffeine.
In another study which tracked 4,000 Americans for almost eight years suggested tea to be of particular benefit to women.
The University of California researchers who reviewed the studies said the weaker results for coffee mean caffeine is unlikely to be responsible for the cognitive benefits.
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US elderly have better mental function than those in UK

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US elder have better cognitive function compared to their counterparts of the same age in the UK, according to a joint UK-US study.

The researchers said that mental function of the US elder was better despite the greater incidence of cardiovascular disease risk factors, which was managed better in the US with drugs.

They said: “Cognitive function is a key determinant of independence and quality of life among older adults. Compared to adults in England, US adults have a greater prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors and disease that may lead to poorer cognitive function.

“We compared cognitive performance of older adults in the US and England, and sought to identify sociodemographic and medical factors associated with differences in cognitive function between the two countries.”

The esearcher was carried out at Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge,UK; Epidemiology and Public Health, Peninsula Medical School, Exeter, UK; Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA Department of Epidemiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.

They studied 13,566 ethnic white individuals over the age of 60, beginning in 2002.

They found that adults in the UK were economically poorer and suffered more from depression than the US adults, where more money is spent on healthcare and also managing symptoms associated with impaired cognitive function, such as high-blood pressure, with drugs. US adults were also better educated.

The researchers concluded: “We found that despite a higher prevalence of cardiovascular risks and cardiovascular disease among older US adults, they performed significantly better than their English counterparts on tests of memory, suggesting an advantage in cognitive health in the United States.

“While we were unable to confidently identify thecause or causes of this US advantage, higher levels of education and wealth, lower levels of depressive symptoms, and more aggressive treatment of cardiovascular risks
such as hypertension, may be important contributing factors. Given the growing number of older adults worldwide, future cross-national studies aimed at identifying the medical and social factors that might prevent or delay cognitive decline in older adultswould make important and valuable contributions to public health.

Read the full study at Full Paper

Moderate drinking may help brain function, says new US study

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New York: A study of more than 7,000 older women has revealed that those who regularly drink a moderate amount of alcohol have better brain function that abstainers.

The study, carried out by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina in the US was published in the journal of Neuroepidemiology found that women who had two to three drinks a day had better cognitive function, including memory, concentration, verbal skills and reasoning.

Lead researcher, Mkike Espeland, PhD said the research confimed other studies that moderate consumption of alcohol may provide some medical benefits.

Espeland, a professor of public health sciences and chairman of the Department of Biostatistical Sciences, said understanding whether alcohol affects specific areas of cognition may shed light on the mechanisms that make it protective.

He conjectures that alcohol increases levels of “good” cholesterol and lowers the risk of stroke, that it may decrease the formation of plaque that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease and that it may increase the release of brain chemicals that affect learning and memory. He added that the findings were not a reason for women to change their current drinking habits.

The researchers used information from the 7,460 women in the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS), a large national study to assess the effects of hormone therapy on dementia and cognitive function. They also used statistics from 2,299 of these women who were also enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA), which involved annual standardized testing of specific areas of cognitive performance. All women in the studies were 65 and older.

The information from this large group of women confirmed earlier findings from the researchers (based on a subset of 4,461 WHIMS participants,) that those who drank moderate amounts of alcohol (up to two or three drinks a day) performed better on tests for cognitive function. Using data from the WHISCA participants, they were able to pinpoint specific areas of cognition that were affected.

Previous studies have also indicated that moderate levels of alcohol intake reduce the risk of dementia and decline in cognitive function. Espeland said, however, that the results must be interpreted with caution.

The researchers adjusted for other factors that might affect the results, such as education level and family income, and still found the same pattern of moderate alcohol intake associated with better cognitive function and less risk of dementia.

The study received support from the National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Espeland’s co-researchers were Laura Coker, Ph.D., and Stephen R. Rapp, Ph.D., also from Wake Forest Baptist, Robert Wallace, M.D., from the University of Iowa College of Medicine, Susan Resnick, Ph.D., from the National Institute on Aging, Marian Limacher, M.D., from the University of Florida, Lynda Powell, M.D., from Rush University Medical Center, and Catherine Messina, Ph.D., from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

www.wfubmc.edu