Heavy smoking in midlife more than doubles your odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a Kaiser Permanente study said Monday. The study is the first to examine the long-term consequences of heavy smoking on Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, says the study’s principal investigator, Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Researchers evaluated the records of 21,123 men and women, who, starting in midlife, were followed for an average of 23 years. Of 5,367 study participants diagnosed with dementia later in life, 2,367 were smokers, and 261 were heavy smokers (more than two packs a day). Compared with non-smokers, those who had smoked two packs of cigarettes a day […]
Vitamin B12 may help to protect people against Alzheimer’s disease, a small study suggests. But other studies in this area have had mixed results. Some have found a link between B12 and Alzheimer’s risk. Others have not. The new study included 271 Finns. They were 65 to 79 years old at the start of the study. At that time, they did not have Alzheimer’s or other dementia. Researchers gave people blood tests. They measured levels of homocysteine, one of the building blocks of proteins. People with high homocysteine levels have a greater risk of stroke. They also measured the active form of B12, which lowers homocysteine levels. During the […]