The Brain Alarm Signs That Warn Of Dementia

When it comes to predicting age-related cognitive impairment:

First there are genetic factors to take into account (such as the APOE4 gene for Alzheimer’s), as well as things such as age and sex.

When it comes to sex, by the way, what matters here is hormones, which is why [it seems; this as technically as yet unproven with full rigor, but the hypothesis is sound and there is a body of evidence gradually being accumulated to support it] postmenopausal women with untreated menopause get Alzheimer’s at a higher rate and deteriorate more quickly:

Alzheimer’s Sex Differences May Not Be What They Appear

Next, there are obviously modifiable lifestyle factors to take into account, things that will reduce your risk such as getting good sleep, good diet, good exercise, and abstaining from alcohol and smoking, as well as oft-forgotten things such as keeping cognitively active and, equally importantly, socially active:

How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

(the article outlines what matters the most in each of the above areas, by the way, so that you can get the most bang-for-buck in terms of lifestyle adjustments)

Lastly (in the category of risk factors), there are things to watch out for in the blood such as hypertension and high cholesterol.

Nipping it in the blood

In new research (so new it is still ongoing, but being at year 2 of a 4-year prospective study, they have published a paper with their results so far), researchers have:

1. started with the premise “dementia is preceded by mild cognitive impairment”
2. then, asked the question “what are the biometric signs of mild cognitive impairment?”

Using such tools as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) while the participants performed cognitive tasks, they were able to record changes in plasma levels of extracellular vesicles, assessing them with small-particle flow cytometry.

Translating from sciencese: they gave the participants mental tasks, and while they completed them, the researchers scanned their brains and monitored blood flow and the brain’s ability to compensate for any lack of it.

What they found:

• in young adults, blood flow increased, facilitating neurovascular coupling (this is good)
• in older adults, blood flow did not increase as much, but they engaged other areas of the brain to compensate, by what’s called functional connectivity (this is next best)
• in those with mild cognitive impairment, blood flow was reduced, and they did not have the ability to compensate by functional connectivity (this is not good)

They also performed a liquid biopsy, which sounds alarming but it just means they took some blood, and tested this for density of cerebrovascular endothelial extracellular vesicles (CEEVs), which—in more prosaic words—are bits from the cells lining the blood vessels in the brain.

People with mild cognitive impairment had more of these brain bits in their blood than those without.

You can read the paper itself here:

Neurovascular coupling, functional connectivity, and cerebrovascular endothelial extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of mild cognitive impairment

Want to do more?

The science here is obviously still young (being as it is still in progress), but this will likely contribute greatly to early warning signs of dementia, by catching mild cognitive impairment in its early stages, by means of a simple blood test, instead of years of wondering before getting a dementia diagnosis.

And of course, forewarned is forearmed, so if this is something that could be done as a matter of routine upon hitting the age of, say, 65 and then periodically thereafter, it would catch a lot of cases while there’s still more time to turn things around.

As for how to turn things around, well, we imagine you have now read our “How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk” article linked up top (if not, we recommend checking it out), and there is also…

Do Try This At Home: The 12-Week Brain Fitness Program To Measurably Boost Your Brain

Take care!