Posted by Larry Hoover on May 29, 2003, at 18:09:28
In reply to Depression Symptoms Linked to Alzheimer's Disease, posted by djmmm on May 29, 2003, at 16:56:56
> Depression Symptoms Linked to Alzheimer's Disease
>
> By Dana Frisch
>
> NEW YORK (Reuters Health) May 19 - Individuals who experience depression symptoms are more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life than are family members without such symptoms, according to a report published in the May issue of the Archives of Neurology.OK, before everybody gets their knickers in a knot, correlations such as this one are intriguing, but you have to look at each of the possible explanations for the correlational relationship. I'll ignore chance coincidence as an explanation.
The correlation could be explained by:
a) Alzheimer's cause depression. Prior to development of overt Alzheimer's, earlier periods of brain dysfunction labelled as major depression are actually manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
b) Depression causes Alzheimer's. That's what everybody wants to believe, because depression came first. However, the researchers themselves say that depression is an early symptom of Alzheimer's. Clearly, there's a little more work needed to sort these two out.
c) Both depression and Alzheimer's are themselves caused by other factors. In other words, by sharing the same risk factors, there will be a correlation between the two diseases simply because both become more likely at the same time.
There is already evidence for the latter argument, at least suggestively. Read this abstract, and think depression every time you read Alzheimer's or dementia (except the first sentence), and you'll find that the risk factors are ones you already know of for mood disorder.Drugs Aging 2003;20(6):399-418
Dietary lipids in the aetiology of Alzheimer's disease: implications for therapy.
Cooper J.
The Memory Center, Affinity Health System, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USADepartment of Neurology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are the neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but no conclusive evidence has emerged showing that these hallmarks are the cause and not a product of the disease. Many studies have implicated oxidation and inflammation in the AD process, and there is growing evidence that abnormalities of lipid metabolism also play a role. Using epidemiology to elucidate risk factors and histological changes to suggest possible mechanisms, the hypothesis is advanced that dietary lipids are the principal risk factor for the development of late-onset sporadic AD.The degree of saturation of fatty acids and the position of the first double bond in essential fatty acids are the most critical factors determining the effect of dietary fats on the risk of AD, with unsaturated fats and n-3 double bonds conferring protection and an overabundance of saturated fats or n-6 double bonds increasing the risk. The interaction of dietary lipids and apolipoprotein E isoforms may determine the risk and rate of sustained autoperoxidation within cellular membranes and the efficacy of membrane repair.Interventions involving dietary lipids and lipid metabolism show great promise in slowing or possibly averting the development of AD, including dietary changes, cholesterol-modifying agents and antioxidants.
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:230010
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030525/msgs/230029.html