Cholesterol May Predict Alzheimer’s Marker

Previously, a number of studies have suggested a link between cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease, specifically because risk factors of the former – including hypertension and elevated cholesterol – are also risk factors for the latter.  Bruce Reed, from the University of California/Davis (California, USA), and colleagues studied data collected on 74 men and women, average age 70 years, who had normal to mildly impaired cognitive function. The team studied the subjects’ cholesterol levels, as well as measured brain deposits of beta amyloid protein.  They found that on average, participants who had higher levels of the low-density lipoprotein (LDL, “bad”) cholesterol and lower levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL, “good”) cholesterol had higher levels of amyloid in the brain. Observing that: “Elevated cerebral [beta-amyloid] level was associated with cholesterol fractions in a pattern analogous to that found in coronary artery disease,” the study authors posit of “an important role for cholesterol in [beta-amyloid] processing.“