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BU Study Says Blood Sugar, Cholesterol Levels At Age 35 Linked To Later Alzheimer's Risk

BOSTON (CBS/CNN) -- Your cholesterol levels at age 35 could give insight into your brain health decades later.

Researchers at Boston University found people with lower HDL - or "good" cholesterol - are more likely to have Alzheimer's Disease later in life.

The study also found adults with high blood glucose between ages 51 and 60 are at higher risk of Alzheimer's in the future.

"We have shown for the first time that the associations between cholesterol and glucose levels and the future risk of Alzheimer's disease extend much earlier in life than previously thought," senior study author Lindsay Farrer, chief of biomedical genetics at Boston University Biomedical Genetics, told CNN.

Farrer said that for every 15 points that your blood sugar goes up, the risk of Alzheimer's increases by 14.5%.

(© Copyright 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.)

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