Tag Archives: amyloid plaques

High cholesterol linked to dementia

Leave a reply

People with raised cholesterol don’t just have an increased risk of heart disease – they may be more likely to develop dementia.

Researchers have found that high cholesterol levels are significantly related to brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

And now, American scientists say they have found the reason why high cholesterol can damage the brain and blood vessels.

Using insights gained from studying two much rarer disorders, Down Syndrome and Niemann Pick-C disease, researchers found that cholesterol wreaks havoc on the orderly process of cell division.

That’s because cholesterol, particularly in the ‘bad’ LDL form, causes cells in both humans and mice to divide incorrectly and distribute their already-duplicated chromosomes unequally to the next generation.

The result is an accumulation of defective cells with the wrong number of chromosomes – and therefore the wrong number of genes.

Instead of the correct two copies of each chromosome, and therefore two copies of each gene, some cells acquired three copies and some only on, the researchers at the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome and University of Colorado found.

Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease

They also found that cells carrying three copies of the chromosome were associated with the damaging protein amyloid, which occurs between nerve cells – and people with Alzheimer’s have amyloid plaques in their brains.

The study is published in the online journal PLOS ONE.


Previous research has found that people with high cholesterol levels, defined by a reading of more than 5.8 mmol/L, had significantly more brain plaques when compared to those with normal or lower cholesterol levels.

A total of 86 percent of people with high cholesterol had brain plaques, compared with only 62 percent of people with low cholesterol levels, the researchers from Japan’s Kyushu University found.

Using autopsies, they looked for plaques and tangles in the brain, both known to be trademark signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

Plaques are an accumulation of a form of the protein amyloid, which occurs between nerve cells. Tangles are an accumulation of a different protein, called tau, which occurs inside nerve cells.

While the study found no link between high cholesterol and the tangles that develop in the brain with Alzheimer’s disease, there was a definite link with plaques.

Olive oil can help protect against dementia

Leave a reply

A POTENT ingredient in olive oil could hold the key to beating Alzheimer’s disease, researchers claim.

Scientists in America have found that oleocanthal – a compound which gives extra-virgin oil its peppery “bite” – helps to destroy the toxic proteins that are thought to cause the killer brain disease.

The naturally-occurring antioxidant could now become a key ingredient in powerful new drugs to fight dementia.

The research also suggests that people can cut their risk of developing Alzheimer’s by adopting a Mediterranean diet.

Rates of the disease and other forms of dementia are far lower in Mediterranean countries, where extra-virgin olive oil is a staple part of the diet.

High consumption of oleocanthal is believed to help “shuttle out” destructive molecules of the protein amyloid beta from the brain.

The sticky protein forms harmful “plaques” which kill off nerve cells and eventually stop one part of the brain talking to the other, causing devastating symptoms such as memory loss and confusion.

Amyloid beta is thought to build up in the brain for at least a decade before the first outward signs of dementia are seen.

Olive Oil

Olive Oil

Finding ways of preventing it from forming plaques is seen as the key to wiping out Alzheimer’s.

In the latest study, scientists tested oleocanthal on mice and cells taken from them.

The compound was found to boost production of two proteins and key enzymes critical in removing amyloid beta from the brain by stopping it from clinging on to nerve cells.


The researchers believe that their findings published in ACS Chemical Neuroscience, the journal of the American Chemical Society, also apply to humans.

Dr Amal Kaddoumi, of the University of Louisiana, said: “Extra virgin olive oil derived oleocanthal associated with the consumption of Mediterranean diet has the potential to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s or related neurodegenerative dementias.” However, Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Pinning down what elements of lifestyle affect our dementia risk is a real challenge, and at present we don’t have evidence that olive oil has a protective effect.

“The mice in this study were injected with oleocanthal but it’s still not known whether normal consumption of olive oil in cooking would have the same effect for people. Ultimately we’d need to see large-scale, controlled studies in people to determine whether oleocanthal or olive oil could hold promise as a treatment or prevention for Alzheimer’s.

“The best evidence shows a healthy, balanced diet can help lower the risk of Alzheimer’s, with regular exercise, not smoking, and keeping blood pressure and cholesterol in check.”