cognitive decline tagged posts

A study of nearly 13,000 adults found that people consuming the most artificial sweeteners experienced a 62% faster decline in memory and thinking skills, equivalent to approximately 1.6 additional years of brain aging. Six popular sweeteners were linked to faster cognitive decline, raising concerns about the long-term brain health effects of common sugar substitutes, although causation was not established.

Sugar substitutes are often promoted as a healthier way to enjoy sweet foods and drinks without consuming as much sugar...

Brain cells that produce the protective coating around nerve fibers can become dysfunctional with age and may actively contribute to cognitive decline, according to new research.

A study found that people with more severe cognitive decline had changes to nerve fibers and myelin—the protective coating around nerve fibers that helps messages travel efficiently through the brain. The study is published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Experiments in mice showed that disrupting oligodendrocytes—the cells that produce myelin—also altered the coating and impaired cognitive performance.

Experts say the findings overturn the longstanding view that these cells are always supportive of healthy brain function and could pave the way for new treatment...

We become forgetful as we age. This is often seen as a universal truth, but in fact it is far from universal: some people remain incredibly sharp at 100 years old, while others experience memory loss starting in middle age.

While it seems logical that age-related cognitive decline would be blamed on brain aging and degeneration (which, like anything in the brain, is notoriously hard to treat), there’s some evidence that processes elsewhere in the body influence the brain’s abil...

Scientists have demonstrated that normal brain aging is accelerated by approximately 26% in people with progressive type 2 diabetes compared with individuals without the disease, reports a study published today in eLife.

The authors evaluated the relationship between typical brain aging and that seen in type 2 diabetes, and observed that type 2 diabetes follows a similar pattern of neurodegeneration as aging, but which progresses faster. One important implication of this finding is that even typical brain aging may reflect changes in the brain’s regulation of glucose by insulin.

The results further suggest that by the time type 2 diabetes is formally diagnosed, the...