Blood Test Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease

Adam Boxer, MD, PhD of the University of California San Francisco and associates published in Lancet Neurology a study which discussed their identifying two chemical biomarkers that distinguish normal patients from those with Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia. The two blood markers, phosphorylated tau 217 (p-tau217) and phosphorylated tau 181(p-tau181) showed “exquisite sensitivity and specificity” for discriminating Alzheimer disease from normal and other entities.

These biomarkers are currently only being used for research purposes and are not available to be used by doctors and patients through commercial labs yet. The researchers believe a commercially available lab test will be developed within the next few years

Walking Helps Stave Off Dementia

A paper presented at the Alzheimer’s Association 2021 International Conference by Natan Feter, PhD of Pelotas, Brazil suggested that even low levels of exercise as you age reduces your chances of developing Alzheimer’s type dementia. Their study looked at the English Longitudinal Study of Aging that included 8,270 individuals 50 years or older between the years 2002-2019. Fifty-six percent were female with a mean age of participants of 64 years. Over the 17-year course of the study, 8% of the participants developed dementia. T

They found the risk of dementia increased by 7.8% for each year increase in age. The risk of developing dementia was reduced by individuals who were physically active – more so for moderate to vigorous exercisers than for low level exercisers. Eighty-year old’s who were vigorous exercisers turned out to have a lower risk of dementia than inactive 50 -69-year-olds.

The message from the study was simple if you exercise even one time a week you reduce your risk of developing dementia. Walking certainly counts favorably. A reviewer simply said that regular walking is good for the heart and what is good for the heart is good for the head.