I was just reading about some research done in Texas that I thought you might find interesting.
You know scientists are always conducting research on the causes of Alzheimer’s disease.
This new study analyzed the blood of over 22,000 people in 5 countries.
It seems were always hearing about things that put us at higher risk of Alzheimers but this study also found some things that may put us at lower risk.
One of them is a higher level of branched chain amino acids in the blood. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, and branch chain amino acids are considered essential to humans; there are 3 of them, leucine, isoleucine and valine. Valine is also of interest because it’s also been linked to diabetes risk and diabetes is a risk factor for dementia.
Anyway, branch chain amino acids are different from other amino acids because they can bypass the liver and go directly to muscle, which is why body builders like to drink whey protein after a workout, as whey is very high in branch chain amino acids. You can also find branch chain amino acids, obviously , in protein rich sources, like animal meats, eggs, fish, poultry, brown rice, nuts and beans.
The study also found that a certain type of HDL and VLDL were associated with increased risk of dementia. HDLs, or high density lipoproteins are usually considered “good cholesterol” so I was intrigued by this because in my practice, I have seen people with very high levels of HDL with dementia. So not all HDL is good, just as we are also finding that not all LDL is bad.
There’s so much we don’t know…
This is Joan Trimble wishing you wellness.