Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Cholesterol levels linked to brain deposits that cause Alzheimer's

High good and low bad cholesterol are not just good for the heart but also the brain, suggests new research published in JAMA Neurology.


Study leader Bruce Reed, a professor of neurology at the University of California (UC) Davis, and associate director of its Alzheimer's Disease Center, says:


"Our study shows that both higher levels of HDL - good - and lower levels of LDL - bad - cholesterol in the bloodstream are associated with lower levels of amyloid plaque deposits in the brain."


He explains that while we already have long-standing evidence of raised cholesterol linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's, their study is the first to link it to amyloid plaques in the brains of living people.


Prof. Reed says:


"Unhealthy patterns of cholesterol could be directly causing the higher levels of amyloid known to contribute to Alzheimer's, in the same way that such patterns promote heart disease."


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