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ALZHEIMERS

Norway study promises Alzheimer’s cure

Norwegian and British researchers believe they have made a major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer's, after a study showed that high doses of B vitamins can reduce brain shrinkage by up to 90 percent.

Published: 9 October 2013 10:00 CEST
Norway study promises Alzheimer's cure
Brain - David Foltz
"The result is sensational," Professor Helga Refsum, who led the study, told Norway's NRK. "The study offers hope that Alzheimer's disease can be prevented in the same way as other groups of diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer."  
 
The joint study by the University of Oslo and the University of Oxford followed 200 patients over a two-year period, with half of the patients given high doses of B vitamins and the other half placebo tablets. 
 
Scans of the patients' brains made both before and after treatment showed that those who were given the placebo had seven times greater levels of brain dementia than those who were given B vitamins.  
 

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BRAIN

Swiss study: high-fat diet can damage children’s brains

Eating a diet high in fatty foods can impair the development of the brain in children and adolescents, researchers at Zurich’s federal technology institute (ETHZ) have found.

Published: 16 November 2016 10:39 CET
Swiss study: high-fat diet can damage children's brains
File photo: Phil Whitehouse

During the study, juvenile and adult mice were fed a diet high in saturated fat, which is commonly found in fast foods, charcuterie and butter.

After just four weeks researchers observed impaired cognitive function in the younger mice.

However no such changes were seen in mature mice on the same diet.

Mice and humans are comparable since the brain’s prefrontal cortex – the area of the brain that controls learning, memory and personality – has similar functions in both mammals and does not fully develop in either until early adulthood, said researchers in a statement.

“As it matures, the prefrontal cortex is therefore vulnerable to negative environmental experiences such as stress, infections and trauma, or even – as the study suggests – a poorly balanced diet,” they said.

Damage can create cognitive deficits and personality changes, for example a person may have learning difficulties, lose their inhibitions or become aggressive, childish or compulsive.

Though the fatty diet did not affect the adult mice in the same way, this “does not rule out the possibility that a high-fat diet may also be harmful for the brains of adult mice,” said Urs Meyer, a professor at ETHZ.

Meyer pointed out that the excessively high-fat diet fed to the mice was not typical of the amount consumed by most people.

“Only very few children and adolescents consume high-fat diets so excessively,” said Meyer.

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