From: San Francisco Chronicle
"Cholesteol linked to Alzheimer's"
Elevated levels impair cognitive thinking, UCSF study shows
A new studie show that those people with lower cholesterol levels, are less at risk for deterioration of their brain, which in turn leads to Alzheimer’s. The medications used to lower cholesterol levels, such as Lipitor, Zocor and Mevacor, not only reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, but it also improved the cognitive functioning in elderly people. When memory, attention and language tests were given to women both on cholestrol-lowering medications, and those not on cholesterol-lowering, those on cholesterol-lowering medications scored significantly higher on the tests of mental alertness. In the study, those women with the highest cholesterol readings, had a 76% chance of having cognitive impairment. However, those women who used the medications listed above, often known as statins, were 30% less likely to have impaired brain function. This may be so because the statins help improve memory. Also, by taking cholesterol-lowering medications it lowered one’s risk of heart disease, clogged arteries, and stops or slows the accumulation of the abnormal protein that is found in the brains of Alzheimer‘s patients.
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