Alzheimer's Risk May Be Influenced by Flu Shots

 There are many reasons your competent? doctor ensures you get that flu shot. But let's see how long ago your doctor should have known about it!

• flu shot (8 posts to October 2012)

Alzheimer's Risk May Be Influenced by Flu Shots

High-dose vaccine tied to roughly 20% lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia

Key Takeaways

• A high-dose flu vaccine was tied to a lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia in older adults versus standard-dose flu shots.
• The association persisted for the first 25 months after vaccination.
• The relationship was stronger in women than in men.

Older adults who received a high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine had a lower risk of incident Alzheimer's disease dementia compared with those who received a standard-dose shot, U.S. claims data showed.

Compared with standard-dose shots, high-dose flu shots were associated with a lower risk for Alzheimer's dementia in the first 25 months after vaccination, reported Avram Bukhbinder, MD, a clinical fellow in neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues.

At 25 months, the minimum number needed to treat with the high-dose flu shot to prevent one additional case of Alzheimer's dementia was 185.2 in per-protocol analyses, the researchers wrote in Neurology. The relationship was stronger in women than in men.

Per-protocol analyses indicated that the risk ratio (RR) for Alzheimer's dementia after high- versus standard-dose flu shots ranged from 0.78 at month 1 to 0.89 at month 25.

The findings show the "higher dose had about a 20% reduction versus the standard-dose vaccination," noted co-author Paul Schulz, MD, of the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth in Houston. "It's interesting that the RR reduction is greatest in the first few months, when the flu vaccine is also protective from the influenza virus."

This analysis is the latest in a series of studies by the research team exploring the link between vaccines and Alzheimer's dementia risk.

"Our first paper in 2022 found that influenza vaccination reduces the risk of Alzheimer's by up to 40% (with six annual vaccinations) for up to 8 years," Schulz told MedPage Today. "After that, we wondered whether it was influenza-specific."

That question led to a second paper in 2023, which showed that each of three vaccines -- tetanus and diphtheria, with or without pertussis, herpes zoster (shingles), or pneumococcus -- were tied to subsequent lower Alzheimer's risk.

"This suggested that reducing Alzheimer's risk is a general property of vaccinations and is not specific to the influenza vaccination," Schulz said. "The nagging question after these studies was whether we had a true finding versus a finding due to the 'healthy survivor effect'" -- in other words, whether people who get vaccinated might be healthier in general.

To address that variable, the current study focused solely on older adults who received a flu shot. Other researchers have used a similar strategy of comparing two vaccinated groups to study relationships between dementia risk and different shingles vaccines, for example.

Bukhbinder and co-authors analyzed data from 2014 to 2019 from IQVIA PharMetrics Plus for Academics, a U.S. healthcare claims database.

All standard-dose, nonadjuvanted, non-recombinant, inactivated flu vaccines approved in the U.S. during the study period for people 50 and older were grouped as standard vaccines. The only high-dose vaccine was a more concentrated formulation (Fluzone High-Dose) approved by the FDA for people 65 and older in December 2009.

Eligible participants were 65 and older with 2 or more years of continuous medical and prescription drug coverage and no previous indicators of cognitive impairment; they were followed for up to 3 years after vaccination. Incident Alzheimer's dementia was defined through diagnostic codes or claims for one of four drugs used to treat Alzheimer's symptoms: donepezil (Aricept), galantamine (Razadyne), rivastigmine (Exelon), or memantine (Namenda).

The researchers emulated a target trial using 21 sequential nested trials (one for each month of the flu vaccine season over 3 years), using inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounding, emulate randomization, and mitigate selection bias.

In per-protocol analyses, participants were censored if they received any flu vaccines during follow-up; estimates better reflected baseline dosage -- high versus standard dose -- without subsequent shots. In intention-to-treat analyses, participants were not censored for additional flu shots, which may better mirror real-world experiences of annual vaccinations.

The high-dose group included 185,269 person-trials and the standard-dose group included 53,978 after weighting. Mean age in both groups was 74 years, and 57% were women.

Women who received a high-dose shot had a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia from months 1 to 13 in per-protocol analyses. Among men, per-protocol results were not statistically significant, but in intention-to-treat analyses, the risk of Alzheimer's dementia was lower after high-dose shots from months 17 to 24.

The study lacked mortality data, which may mean Alzheimer's risk was underestimated. The researchers also acknowledged that Alzheimer's dementia has a long preclinical phase and the follow-up duration of up to 3 years is a limitation, although it was similar to other studies examining vaccination and dementia risk.

Judy George covers neurology and neuroscience news for MedPage Today, writing about brain aging, Alzheimer’s, dementia, MS, rare diseases, epilepsy, autism, headache, stroke, Parkinson’s, ALS, concussion, CTE, sleep, pain, and more. Connect:

Disclosures

Bukhbinder, Schulz, and co-authors had no conflicts of interest.

Primary Source

Neurology

Source Reference: Bukhbinder AS, et al "Risk of Alzheimer dementia after high-dose vs standard-dose influenza vaccination" Neurology 2026; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000214782.

Teleneurology vs On-Site Neurology Consultation for Postadmission Hospital Care of Stroke

 Every single stroke round IS COMPLETELY FUCKING USELESS! Your doctor HAS NOTHING FOR 100% RECOVERY! The only goal in stroke! That is how fucking incompetent everyone in stroke is! The key word signifying incompetence is 'CARE'; NOT RECOVERY!  You don't have to go any farther than the word 'care' to declare incompetence. So how simple it is to evaluate stroke.

Send me personal hate mail on this: oc1dean@gmail.com. I'll print your complete statement with your name(If you can't stand by your name don't bother replying anonymously) and my response in my blog. Or are you afraid to engage with my stroke-addled mind? No excuses are allowed! You're medically trained; it should be simple to precisely state EXACTLY WHERE I'M WRONG. I want to hear your excuses for failure(not getting to 100% recovery IS FAILURE!) so I can demolish them! You aren't solving to 100% recovery protocols with NO EXCUSES! I've never received any communications from any stroke association. You'd think they would want to talk to their fiercest critic, but no, they are hiding under a rock someplace, probably don't even know I exist! Swearing at me is allowed, I'll return the favor. Don't even attempt to use the excuse that brain research is hard.

Teleneurology vs On-Site Neurology Consultation for Postadmission Hospital Care of Stroke

1. Janina R. Behrens, MD^1,2; 
   Maximilian Kaffes, MD^1,2; 
   Annette Aigner, PhD^2,3
 
2. et al

 

JAMA Neurol

Published Online: April 6, 2026

doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2026.0615

Question Are telestroke ward rounds during subacute inpatient stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) noninferior to conventional on-site ward rounds? Findings  In this noninferiority study that included 501 patients, telestroke ward rounds were rated as guideline adherent in 92% vs 52% for the on-site ward rounds, suggesting not only noninferiority but also superiority.

Meaning  These findings support the integration of telemedicine into routine inpatient stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!), particularly in regions with limited access to neurological expertise.

Abstract

Importance  Telestroke networks provide coverage of neurological expertise in rural areas. While most teleneurological consultations focus on acute stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) in emergency departments, neurological expertise remains crucial in the subacute phase. However, teleneurological ward rounds have not yet been systematically investigated for feasibility and quality.

Objective  To assess noninferiority of teleneurological ward rounds compared with conventional on-site ward rounds during subacute inpatient stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!), focusing on adherence to guideline-based quality indicators.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This prospective, multicenter, nonrandomized, noninferiority study was conducted at 15 primary care hospitals within 4 German telestroke networks from October 2022 to December 2024. Adults (18 years or older) hospitalized with suspected acute ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke or transient ischemic attack were eligible. A total of 1908 patients were screened. These data were analyzed from January 2025 to May 2025.

Exposures  Patients received both a teleneurological and an on-site neurological ward round. Teleneurological ward rounds were performed by network neurologists via video consultation; on-site consultations were performed by local neurologists. Documentation from both consultations was evaluated by blinded external neurovascular experts.

Main Outcomes and Measures  The primary outcome was complete fulfillment of 6 predefined, guideline-based quality domains: etiological classification, neurological examination, risk assessment, diagnostic recommendations, secondary prevention, and recommended aftercare. Noninferiority was defined as a maximum difference in proportions of correct assessments of 5 percentage points. Secondary outcomes included correctness of individual domains and expert quality ratings on a visual analoge scale.

Results  A total of 518 patients were enrolled (median age, 71 years; 222 female [44%] and 296 male [56%]) and 501 were included in the final analysis. Complete adherence to all quality criteria was achieved in 92% (95% CI, 90%-94%) of teleneurological ward rounds compared with 54% (95% CI, 49%-58%) of on-site ward rounds (absolute difference, 38 percentage points; 90% CI, 34-42). Superiority of teleneurological ward rounds was consistent across all quality domains with the most pronounced differences observed for secondary prevention (absolute difference, 21% percentage points; 90% CI, 17-24).

Conclusions and relevance  Teleneurological ward rounds in subacute stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!) were noninferior and even superior when compared with on-site consultations, with respect to guideline adherence across all quality domains. These findings support the integration of telemedicine into routine inpatient stroke care(NOT RECOVERY!), particularly in regions with limited access to neurological expertise.

What, Exactly, Is Longevity Medicine? from NYTimes Well

 I'm flying blind here, probably never get any specialized tests. My genes are good, Dad died at 91 from Parkinsons, Mom at 97 still living alone at home.

My guesses here:

• longevity (72 posts to October 2013)
• longevity diet (12 posts to July 2021)
• longevity exercises (5 posts to November 2020)

What, Exactly, Is Longevity Medicine?

This should be one of my free gift articles.

Spastic toe pain with a toe crest

 My therapist never mentioned possibly using toe crests to straighten the toes that are curled due to spasticity.  I've been using them on and off for years, first to stop from walking on my toenails while inside the shoe.  I can't walk barefoot without walking on my toenails.  Today after a full day of wearing one my toes screamed in pain for stretching muscles that don't want to be stretched. 

Another possibility I tried at night was to sleep with this toe stretcher. That lasted only two hours before my toes screamed in pain and I removed them and threw them away.  The only solution is curing spasticity contrary to the idiotic opinion of

 the infamous Dr. William M. Landau who thinks spasticity is not worth treating. 

Do you believe in the do nothingism of Dr. William M. Landau on spasticity?  

His statement from here:

Spasticity After Stroke: Why Bother? Aug. 2004

Wonder if he will be singing the same tune after he becomes the 1 in 4 per WHO that has a stroke, will he be satisfied with not getting recovered? Comeuppance will be a real bitch for him when he gets spasticity.

Heard Of The Thymus? New Research Says It’s Key to Healthy Aging by mindbodygreen

Pretty much unhelpful; a few broad guidelines; NOT PROTOCOLS!

Heard Of The Thymus? New Research Says It’s Key to Healthy Aging

If I asked you to point to your thymus, would you even know where it is? Until recently, I wouldn’t have either. It’s one of those organs you (maybe) learn about briefly, something about immune function in childhood, and then mentally file away as no longer relevant. After all, the long-standing belief has been that the thymus becomes largely inactive after puberty.But new research¹Two large studies just took a closer look at this overlooked organ, not in children, but in thousands of adults. And instead of fading into the background, the thymus may still be shaping how well we age, how resilient our immune system is, and even how we respond to certain cancer treatments. What if one of the most overlooked parts of your body is playing a much bigger role in your long-term health than anyone realized?  

Why your thymus matters

  To understand this research, it helps to start with what the thymus actually does. This small organ, located in the chest, is responsible for training T cells, key players in your immune system that help identify and fight off infections, abnormal cells, and disease. It’s especially active early in life, which is why it’s traditionally been associated with childhood immune development. For a long time, the assumption was that its role faded with age. But instead of relying on that idea, researchers took a more direct approach. They used artificial intelligence to analyze routine CT scans and measure thymus health in adults, looking at its size, structure, and composition to generate a kind of “thymic health score.” And they didn’t just look at a small sample. One study analyzed over 25,000 adults from a national lung screening trial, while another drew from participants in the long-running Framingham Heart Study. The link between thymus health, longevity, & disease risk When researchers compared thymic health scores to long-term outcomes, a pattern started to emerge. Adults with healthier thymuses tended to live longer and had lower risks of major diseases, including cardiovascular conditions and certain cancers. In fact, those with higher thymic health scores showed significantly lower rates of all-cause mortality and disease incidence, even after accounting for factors like age, smoking, and existing health conditions. What stood out most was how variable thymic health was between individuals. Two people of the same age could have very different thymus profiles, suggesting that immune aging doesn’t follow a single, predictable timeline. Instead, it seems to be shaped by a mix of biology, environment, and lifestyle over time. Researchers also found links between poorer thymic health and higher levels of chronic inflammation, smoking, and higher body weight. These same factors that we already associate with long-term health may also be influencing how well this organ continues to function behind the scenes. 

What this means for cancer treatment & immunotherapy

looked, more specifically, at how thymic health might affect response to cancer treatment. Immunotherapy has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in oncology, designed to help the body’s own immune system recognize and attack cancer cells. But one of the biggest challenges is that it doesn’t work equally well for everyone. The researchers wanted to explore whether part of that variability was due to the tumor or if it had more to do with the patient’s immune system. They analyzed CT scans from thousands of cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy and compared thymic health to treatment outcomes. What they found suggests that patients with stronger thymic health tended to have better responses, including lower risk of disease progression and improved survival rates.  

The everyday habits that may shape your thymus

Okay, so how in the world do you improve your thymic health? Chronic inflammation, metabolic health, physical activity, and smoking status all showed associations with how well the thymus was functioning. That suggests this isn’t just a fixed, age-related decline; it may be something that responds to long-term lifestyle patterns. This means focusing on the inputs that directly influence inflammation and metabolic health: Prioritizing strength training and daily movement. Eating in a way that stabilizes blood sugar. Getting consistent sleep timing(not just more sleep) Cutting back on the things that drive inflammation, like excess alcohol or ultra-processed foods. These are the habits that not only improve the health of your thymus but also your overall longevity. 

The takeaway

I’ve never once thought about my thymus in the context of longevity. But this research makes it hard to ignore. It suggests this small, overlooked organ may be silently shaping how we age, how resilient our immune system stays, and how well we handle stressors over time.

BMI Misclassifies Many Adults With Obesity

 Have your competent? doctor measure this on you. 

I was at exactly 25 BMI prior to stroke, then gained 30 pounds because my doctor knew nothing and did nothing to get me recovered enough to continue with all the activities that kept me in shape. And told me nothing about slowing metabolism after age 50. Don't know what my DEXA scan is, not concerned

BMI Misclassifies Many Adults With Obesity

TOPLINE:

In an Italian general‑population cohort, BMI misclassified about one third of adults — placing many in incorrect weight categories and modestly overestimating the combined prevalence of overweight and obesity compared with body‑fat percentage measured using DEXA.

METHODOLOGY:

• Despite mounting criticism that BMI fails to accurately capture body fat percentage or distribution, it remains the standard tool for weight‐classification in primary care, health policy, and insurance settings.
• Researchers assessed 1351 White Caucasian participants aged 18-98 years (60% women) from the Italian general population to compare World Health Organization BMI categories with categories based on body fat percentage measured using DEXA.
• Participants were first classified by BMI as having underweight (< 18.5), normal weight (18.5-25.0), overweight (25-30), or obesity (> 30), then reclassified using age‑ and sex‑specific body‑fat percentage thresholds from DEXA.
• The agreement between BMI and DEXA classifications across all weight categories was examined to determine the prevalence of misclassification.

TAKEAWAY:

• According to BMI categories, 1.4% of participants had underweight, 58.3% had normal weight, 26.2% had overweight, and 14.1% had obesity.
• Among participants classified as having obesity by BMI, 34% were reclassified as having overweight by DEXA; among those classified as having overweight by BMI, 53% were reclassified by DEXA — about 75% to normal weight and the remaining 25% to obesity categories.
• In the normal weight BMI group, BMI and DEXA classifications agreed in 78% of participants; the remaining 22% were reclassified by DEXA as having underweight (9.7%), overweight (11.4%), and obesity (0.8%); the greatest disagreement was seen in the underweight BMI group, where 68.4% were reclassified as having normal weight by DEXA.
• The DEXA analysis found the cohort prevalence of overweight and obesity combined to be about 37% overall (23.4% with overweight and 13.2% with obesity) compared with approximately 41% combined by BMI.

IN PRACTICE:

“Public health guidelines in Italy need to be revised to consider combining direct body composition or their surrogate measures such as skinfold measurement or body circumference — such as the waist-to-height ratio — with BMI while assessing weight status in the general population,” the authors wrote. 

SOURCE:

The study was led by Chiara Milanese, University of Verona, Verona, Italy. It was published online in Nutrients and will be presented at the 33rd European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, Turkey, May 12-15, 2026.

Once- or Twice-Yearly Injection for Weight Loss?

 

If your doctor is a failure at 100% recovery, you will likely need this.

My doctor obviously knew nothing about weight gain post stroke. He didn't reference body metabolism slowing down after age 50 and my limited exercise ability which I used to do to excess allowing me to eat as I wanted. That incompetence led me to a 30 lb. weight gain which I'm still working to conquer. 

Once- or Twice-Yearly Injection for Weight Loss?

A single 240 mg dose of WVE-007 (Wave Life Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts) led to improvements in body composition, including reductions in visceral fat and waist circumference, phase 1 interim data of the INLIGHT trial showed.

At 6 months, in 32 individuals living with overweight or obesity, but with less fat and lower BMI (average 32) than those in phase 2 and 3 obesity studies, the investigational siRNA drug led to reductions in visceral fat (-14%) and total fat (-5%); stabilization of lean mass (+2%); and reductions in waist circumference (-3%) and body weight (-1%).

“Our analysis suggests there will be even greater improvement in individuals with higher BMI in the phase 2a portion of INLIGHT, including more pronounced visceral and total fat loss with similar lean mass preservation, thus inducing greater weight loss,” Christopher Wright, MD, PhD, the company’s chief medical officer, said in a press release.Perhaps. But the news of a 1% weight loss triggered a 50% drop in the company’s stock after the interim results were announced as investors were not impressed.

Nevertheless, the company said, the improvement in body composition as measured by visceral fat-to-muscle ratio observed with the single 240 mg dose (-16.5% vs baseline) in the phase 1 trial was greater than that achieved with weekly 2.4 mg doses of semaglutide at 6 months (-12.2% vs baseline) in the BELIEVE phase 2 clinical trial, which enrolled a higher BMI population (average 37).

Suggested for you

Human genetic data support targeting INHBE (Inhibin Subunit Beta E) as a therapeutic approach for obesity and improved cardiometabolic health, according to the company. Silencing INHBE and its downstream gene product, Activin E, induces fat loss through lipolysis, the breakdown of triglycerides directly in adipocytes, without reducing muscle.

WWhat’s Next

The phase 2a multidose portion of INLIGHT evaluating WVE-007 as monotherapy in individuals with higher BMI (35-50) and comorbidities will start in the second quarter of 2026. The placebo-controlled (3:1) study will include multiple assessments over a 12-month period, including body weight, waist circumference, body composition (MRI and DEXA), liver fat (MRI-derived proton density fat fraction), A1c, lipid levels, C-reactive protein, and muscle function.

The study is expected to demonstrate further body composition improvements, including greater fat loss with preserved muscle, and additional weight loss.

The data from that portion of the trial will inform further development in obesity as well as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, the company said. The first assessment in this portion of the trial is planned for 3 months after participants have received their first dose.Additional data from INLIGHT, including data from the 600 mg phase 1 SAD (single ascending dose) cohort, are expected in 2026.

So far, data from the ongoing INLIGHT study “continue to suggest once- or twice-yearly dosing,” a company spokesperson told Medscape Medical News.

Letter to the Editor: Susan Boyer on stroke recovery and care gaps

 The incompetence of this hospital should result in an immediate involuntary corrective action by the ASA(American Stroke Association)! But nothing will occur! There is NO LEADERSHIP ANYWHERE IN STROKE!

LTE: Susan Boyer on stroke recovery and care gaps

Dear Editor,

 

In October, my husband suffered a stroke, resulting in a 40% to 80% loss of vision, along with other stroke deficits. The diagnosis was confirmed through emergency department and neurology consultation at a major, credentialed stroke center.

What followed was not coordinated stroke recovery, but prolonged and consequential gaps in care.

Stroke follow-up was scheduled five months after the event. In the interim, there was no plan for cognitive assessment, rehabilitation, or occupational or physical therapy. There was no physiatry consultation and no evaluation of the extent or functional impact of his vision loss. A referral to neuro-ophthalmology resulted in visual field testing scheduled nearly 10 months after the stroke.

An occipital stroke with significant visual field deficit was diagnosed, yet no rehabilitation services or compensatory training were offered. Meanwhile, I observed persistent post-stroke symptoms: confusion, disorientation, memory impairment, hallucinations, balance and gait changes, and impaired visual-spatial processing. These deficits were never formally evaluated or addressed. We were given no explanation, no plan, and no guidance on how to manage or recover from stroke-related impairments.

My message to the public is simple: If you or a loved one is discharged from the emergency department after a stroke, ask whether timely follow-up, rehabilitation, and specialty care are actually available. Ask about expected timelines, and whether they meet national standards of care. Patients and caregivers deserve transparency. If timely post-stroke assessment and rehabilitation are not available, health care systems must state this clearly and early so patients can seek appropriate care elsewhere.

My message to health care systems is equally direct: Delayed stroke care is not an inconvenience. It is a patient-safety failure. Lives, independence, and futures are lost in these gaps.

When I speak of care gaps, I am naming a critical – and uncomfortable – reality: capacity without transparency. If a system cannot provide guideline-concordant post-stroke care, it has an obligation to disclose that limitation explicitly, rather than allowing patients and clinicians to assume that appropriate care is available when it is not.

Stroke recovery is time-sensitive. Delay causes harm. Silence about that reality is not neutral – it is damaging.

 

With concern,

Susan Boyer, DNP, RN, FAAN

Health care Advocate and Caregiver

Weathersfield, Vt.

Make it fun but keep it simple: EEG reveals the impact of easy yet engaging games for stroke rehabilitation

 When your competent? doctor explains how these games are part of getting you 100% recovered, you'll HAVE ZERO MOTIVATION PROBLEMS!

You create EXACT 100% recovery protocols, and your survivor will be motivated to do the millions of reps needed because they are looking forward to 100% recovery.

Make it fun but keep it simple: EEG reveals the impact of easy yet engaging games for stroke rehabilitation

• Romain Cardis, 
• Claire Lugrin, 
• Skander Mensi, 
• Andrea Serino, 
• Anne-Charlotte Farasse, 
• Jean-Michel Pignat & 
• Robert Leeb 

• 27 Accesses

• Explore all metrics 

 We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Abstract

Background

Stroke often leads to motor disabilities, and effective rehabilitation is crucial for restoring limb function. Gamified rehabilitation programs have emerged to increase stroke survivor motivation through engaging environments and rewards. However, it is uncertain whether stroke survivors respond to video game environments and challenges in the same way as healthy individuals do, given the potential impact of stroke on mood and intrinsic motivation.

Methods

EEG data were collected from stroke survivors and healthy controls under multiple conditions. Initially, a cognitively activated state was identified via an N-back task. The participants subsequently engaged with an upper limb rehabilitation game featuring an immersive 3D environment. The brain activity patterns during this engaging game were then compared to those during a version of the same task without a 3D, gamified environment. Finally, responses to a more challenging iteration of the engaging game were assessed.

Results

While healthy controls showed brain activity indicative of effort and attention in N-back and subsequent games, stroke survivors displayed similar brain activation patterns only when playing the engaging version of the game. Notably, increasing the game difficulty increased attentional states in controls but not in stroke survivors.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that an engagement mental state, as indexed by EEG markers, is more difficult to achieve in stroke survivors during repetitive tasks than in healthy controls. However, engaging in video game environments can significantly increase stroke survivors’ motivation and participation, provided that the difficulty level is appropriately adjusted. We believe this provides evidence that video game-based rehabilitation is a promising approach to promote stroke survivor engagement through enhanced motivation.

A sound link: Hearing, neurogenesis, and cognition

 With your risk of dementia post stroke your competent? doctor knew enough to get your hearing tested and hearing aids acquired to reduce that risk of dementia!

Your risk of dementia, has your doctor told you of this?  Your doctor is responsible for preventing this! Is s/he willing to prevent this?

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`    

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.

4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018 

Do you prefer your doctor, hospital and board of director's incompetence NOT KNOWING? OR NOT DOING? Your choice; let them be incompetent or demand action!

OH NO! your doctor KNOWS NOTHING AND DOES NOTHING! 

A sound link: Hearing, neurogenesis, and cognition

Abstract

Hearing loss has been considered one of the key risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Liu et al.1 establish a causal link between hearing activity, hippocampal neurogenesis, and cognitive function and identify the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system as the mediator.

Traditional Japanese diet associated with less brain shrinkage in women compared to western diet, says research

Have your competent? doctor come back to you when they HAVE EXACT SPECIFICS FOR THIS DIET!  This is guidelines and NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

 Traditional Japanese diet associated with less brain shrinkage in women compared to western diet, says research

Cognitive decline and dementia already affect more than 55 million people worldwide. This number is projected to skyrocket over the next few decades as the global population ages.

There are certain risk factors of cognitive decline and dementia that we cannot change – such as having a genetic predisposition to these conditions. But other risk factors we may have more power over – with research showing certain modifiable lifestyle habits, such as smoking, obesity and lack of exercise, are all linked to higher risk of dementia.

What role nutrition plays in preventing cognitive decline and dementia has also been the focus of scientific research for quite some time.

For example, numerous studies have examined the benefits of the Mediterranean diet. This diet seems to have a positive affect on important metrics of a healthy brain, such as total brain volume, cortical thickness, and integrity of white matter.

Our recent study now suggests that following a traditional Japanese diet may also be beneficial for brain health – and better for it than the typical western diet is.

The traditional Japanese diet

Japan is renowned for the longevity of its people. For example, the Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan hosts an extraordinarily high number of centenarians. For this reason, Okinawa is recognised as a Blue Zone, an area where people live exceptionally long lives. The longevity of those living in this region is often attributed in part to their traditional diet.

The typical Japanese diet is characterised by foods such as rice, fish and shellfish, and fruits (especially citrus fruits). But what makes this diet unique are traditional Japanese foods such as miso (fermented soybean paste), seaweed, pickles, green tea, soybeans, soybeans sprouts and mushrooms (such as shiitake). Notably, this diet is also characterised by low intake of red meat and coffee.

It’s worth noting that the traditional Japanese diet is a cultural habit rather than a diet designed for achieving a particular objective (such as weight loss). It’s simply what many Japanese people regularly enjoy at their dining table.

Brain health

To conduct our study, we looked at a sample of 1,636 Japanese adults aged 40 to 89.

We first identified the participants’ typical diet by asking them to record everything they ate and drank for three days. They were also given a disposable camera to take pictures of their plates before and after each meal to produce a visual record of how much they ate.

Combining the written diet record with the pictures, we then calculated each person’s average daily food intake. This gave us a good baseline measure of the participants’ normal eating habits.

Based on the dietary records, we found 589 participants followed a traditional Japanese diet. A further 697 participants ate a typical western diet, which was characterised by a high consumption of refined carbs, high-fat foods, soft drinks and alcohol. Finally, a smaller number of participants (350 people) ate a diet containing a higher than average amount of plant foods (grains, vegetables, and fruits) and dairy products. We named this way of eating the vegetable-fruit-dairy diet.

The traditional Japanese diet is characterised by high intake of fish and shellfish and low intake of red meat. Rawpixel.com/ Shutterstock

We also collected information on other lifestyle and health factors, including whether the participant had a genetic predisposition to dementia (such as the APOE genotype), whether they smoked, their level of physical activity and if they had any existing health conditions (such as stroke or diabetes). We did this to adjust our analyses to account for these factors, ensuring that our findings could be attributed solely to diet.

Then, we analysed the progression of brain atrophy or shrinkage (a loss of neurons) over a period of two years. Crucially, age-associated brain atrophy is a common marker of cognitive decline and dementia. Brain atrophy was measured through an MRI scan.

We found that women who followed the traditional Japanese diet had less brain shrinkage over the two-year study period compared to women who followed the western diet. It’s less clear what effect the vegetable-fruit-dairy diet had – probably due to the small number of participants who followed this diet.

Interestingly, this effect was only apparent in women. There was no difference in the amount of brain shrinkage seen in men who followed the traditional Japanese diet compared to those following other diets.

There could be a few reasons for this pattern of results. Some seem to be specific to the biological differences between sexes. For example, certain nutrients – such as magnesium and the plant oestrogens found in fish, shellfish, mushrooms, whole grains, and legumes – appear to have a stronger protective effect on women’s brains.

This effect could also be explained by differences in lifestyle habits between sexes. Negative factors, such as smoking – which may counteract the benefits of a healthy diet – were found to be far more common among men. Also, male participants were more likely to stray from the traditional Japanese diet – tending to consume more noodles (a source of refined carbs) and alcoholic beverages (sake) than the women. Both of these factors may contribute to brain shrinkage.

The benefits of the Japanese diet may also stem from the fact that many foods are rich in vitamins, polyphenols, phytochemicals and unsaturated fatty acids. All of these components are known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects – which basically means they help keep the brain and its neurons working their best.

It will now be important for further research to be conducted – not only to confirm our findings, but to explore some of the reasons for the differences seen between men and women when it comes to their preferred diet and brain health.

Embracing elements of the traditional Japanese diet and including foods such as fish, seafood, soy, miso, seaweed and shiitake mushrooms, may not only help improve cognitive function but overall health too.