Mom's Alzheimer's May Raise Kid's Risk

(WebMD)  If your mother had late-onset Alzheimer's disease, you may be more likely to undergo brain metabolism changes that might lead to Alzheimer's, a new study shows.

But that doesn't mean that Alzheimer's disease is definitely in your future, notes researcher Lisa Mosconi, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.

Her advice: "If you're at risk of Alzheimer's because your mother had the disease, you need to make sure that you take special care of your health" to try to prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease.

Here's a look at Mosconi's findings -- presented in Chicago at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2008 -- and reaction from experts.

Maternal History of Alzheimer's

Having a parent or sibling with Alzheimer's disease is a known risk factor for Alzheimer's. The new study is about figuring out how that happens.

Mosconi's team studied 66 healthy adults (average age: 64) with no signs of Alzheimer's, dementia, or milder mental problems.

Some participants' moms had had late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of Alzheimer's, which starts after age 65. Others had a father, but not a mother, with late-onset Alzheimer's. A third group had no parents with Alzheimer's.

Participants got positron emission tomography (PET) scans every year for two years to see how effectively their brain used sugar (glucose).

Throughout the study, all participants had normal mental skills. But those with a maternal history of Alzheimer's had a sharp decline in how well brain regions linked to memory and attention used glucose. Having a father with Alzheimer's didn't affect the PET scan findings.

It's too early to know if the drop in brain glucose metabolism will predict Alzheimer's. Mosconi's team will follow participants to check on that.

The researchers are also studying mitochondria, energy-making structures in cells, because mitochondria DNA are handed down maternally. Flawed mitochondria might be one piece of the Alzheimer's puzzle, but that isn't certain, Mosconi notes.

Clue to Alzheimer's?

The findings are "intriguing," Samuel E. Gandy, MD, PhD, and John R. Gilbert, PhD, tell WebMD.

Gandy, who chairs the medical and scientific advisory council of the Alzheimer's Association, points out that brain's glucose metabolism can fall decades before Alzheimer's starts.

"If you had a baseline [brain] scan and then a follow-up five years later and it showed that your glucose utilization was falling off rapidly and in a pattern consistent with Alzheimer's disease, that would be of concern," says Gandy. He also says "it's certainly plausible that if one inherits faulty mitochondria, that might put you at increased risk for Alzheimer's," though more work is needed to confirm that.

Gilbert -- a professor of human genetics who directs the Center for Genome Technology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Miami Institute for Human Genomics -- agrees.

"It may be that decreased glucose utilization doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get Alzheimer's disease but that, in conjunction with the wrong type of environment or some other genes that might give you a slight risk, would combine to give it to you," says Gilbert.

For some people, slowing glucose metabolism in the brain might be the tipping point. "But in a lot of people, it probably is just another insult... another hit in a biological boxing match," says Gilbert.

But family history or not, you can pack some punches of your own against Alzheimer's risk.

What You Can Do

What if your mother has, or had, late-onset Alzheimer's? Here's advice from Mosconi and Gandy:

• First, get a thorough medical checkup.


• Next, get any problems like blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes under control.


• Upgrade your lifestyle with exercise and a healthy diet. If you smoke, quit. And find ways to exercise your brain by challenging your memory and attention.

"Those things are all good for you anyway, and until we have a pill that we can recommend for people, those are the sorts of recommendations that we're able to offer," says Gandy.

What About Dad?

Though Mosconi's findings are all about mothers, don't jump to the conclusion that dads don't affect Alzheimer's risk. "That's too far of a jump," says Mosconi. "There could be a paternal transmission factor but we don't really know what it is."

Gandy and Gilbert agree. Several Alzheimer's genes can come from either parent, notes Gilbert. And Gandy predicts that "there will be risk factors throughout the genome and some may be paternally transmitted... I think it would be too soon to exclude that."


By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2005-2008 WebMD, LLC. All rights reserved

[curious_mind]

I saw an article about two years ago that was very similar. This seems to be a scare tactic article to make people worry about what is going on inside their heads. I was forgetting little things at 20 so why should I get worked up about doing the same now?
Let''s all take a breather from their propaganda. I saw elsewhere they give indicaters of the early stages of Alzheimer''s and it was quite similar to people who have undergone operant conditioning, extended drug "therapy", and shock treatment. Forget about their useless ramblings.

[kenhamlett]

Dear ademeyer

While I can not tell you to hope for the best or even to succumb to the inevitable since neither is good advice, I can point out that India has a very low rate of Alzheimer''s and some say Tumeric is the reason. I also can not say it is a preventative or curative measure but if you were to research natural remedies there is an interesting amount of information to occupy your mind.
If all else fails there are some great curry dishes out there. I don''t want to make light of your concern but there is a whole world out there with answers. Don''t just accept what western medicine has to offer. Smile, enjoy life and learn something new.

[ademeyer]

My mom developed Alzheimer''s late in life. So did her father, (but not her mother.) Both my mother and grandfather were physically active and never had heart disease or diabetes. My mother and father loved square dancing and competed to be the first to complete the paper''s daily crossword and word jumble. My grandfather had a small amount of red wine every night of his adult life. His Alzheimer''s came on later than my mother''s but it progressed more quickly. I am 49 and I find I sometimes can''t find words to express simple thoughts. I have to re-read what I write to catch odd grammatical errors I seem to make. I''m pretty sure Alzheimer''s is in my future, but I am hoping research will advance quickly to help me stop my own decline. In the meantime I take a daily aspirin and load up on fruits and vegetables.

[kenhamlett]

*And find ways to exercise your brain by challenging your memory and attention.*
Ah we finally have some good information. This is great advice for general mental decline but Alzheimer''s is not general mental decline.

This makes a nice article so you can blame your mother but if this one article were all that I had to rely on I would be in trouble.
Luckily I do a lot of thinking as I sit here drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes and as a result I have noticed that there are many natural products that offer promise. Since the odds are near zero that I will develop this disease all I can do is harass the researchers on behalf of those that are afflicted.
Get busy with the autoimmune aspect so these folks will at least have a chance. Fire the psychiatrists involved in the research. There is no reason to believe they want a cure. They only want a "treatment" so they can cash in for as long as possible.

The article was nicely worded though.

[kenhamlett]

*If you smoke, quit.*
I have noticed that smokers and coffee drinkers are the least likely to develop Alzheimer''s! No kidding.
This is not a scientific opinion but observation. It is what it is.

[kenhamlett]

* Next, get any problems like blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes under control.*
Exactly where are the studies that prove any of these cause Alzheimer''s? It sounds more like an advertisement to sell blood pressure meds, statins, and since Diabetes is a really big cash cow, especially in the south, it is seldom that people are taught to avoid Diabetes so why would they start now. The connection to Alzheimer''s and this advice is vaporous.

[kenhamlett]

I will skip the entire article up to the part where they tell you what you can do. I will split it up to keep it simple.
* First, get a thorough medical checkup.*
KA-CHING Ring the cash register for the doctors so they can tell you there is nothing they can do.