(24-02-09) Could diet be key link to dementia risk?

By DEBRA LEMOINE



That is the question that led neurodegeneration researcher Jeffery Keller from the Sanders-Brown Institute on Aging in Lexington, Ky., to the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in July to study dementia.

?We saw our work in dementia moving toward understanding how nutrition, obesity and diabetes are emerging as risk factors in dementia and the elderly,? Keller said.

In order to explore that link, Keller said that he and his wife, Annadora Bruce-Keller, a neurobiologist who also studies dementia, came to Pennington where there are the tools and experienced research staff to examine that link. Now, Keller is tasked with starting a new research effort at Pennington, the Institute for Dementia Research and Prevention.

Citing his wife?s research on dementia in people who have contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), dementia can be brought on by inflammation in the body, he said.

?There?s a lot of evidence dementia is not necessarily a disease of the brain,? Keller said.

Inflammation plays a role in other diseases, such as diabetes. Conditions such as obesity or a poor diet with little exercise can increase inflammation as well.

For example, Keller published a paper in November?s Journal of Neurochemistry that linked the typical high-fat diet of most Americans to the acceleration of brain degeneration in mice bred to have Alzheimer?s disease.

?The biggest risk factor is age,? Keller said. ?We still don?t know why that is. Clearly it has something to do with how these different parts of the body change and affect the brain.?

Pennington researchers have been looking at aging and its related
conditions for years.

Don Ingram, who researches aging and is among the researchers who will participate in the institute, is looking for a medication or nutritional supplement that could slow the rate of aging and diseases, such as dementia, that develop during the aging process.

This idea comes from studies on caloric restriction of mice and other animals, which Ingram did during his 26-year tenure at the National Institute on Aging.

Animal studies, ranging from dogs to monkeys, have shown that by reducing how much food is eaten by 30 percent, the equivalent of a human going from a 2,500-calorie diet to a 1,750-calorie diet, not only slowed aging but delayed the onset of heart disease, cancer and dementia, he said.

The problem, of course, is sticking to such a diet.

?Could you do it? I know I couldn?t,? Ingram said.

That is why Ingram and other researchers are looking for a pill to mimic the effect of caloric restriction. For example, many researchers are studying resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine and similarly colored fruits, such as grapes and blueberries, as a possible anti-aging substance.

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