TUESDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- A gene variant that is good for the heart also appears to be good for the brain, slowing age-related decline in mental function and cutting the odds for Alzheimer's disease, a study indicates.

"If you carry two copies of the favorable form of the gene, it reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 70 percent," explained study lead author Dr. Richard B. Lipton, professor and vice chair of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City.

Drugs that mimic the activity of the gene variant already are being developed, said Lipton, whose group reported the finding in the Jan. 13 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A 2003 study by Lipton and his associates identified a variant of the gene for cholesterol ester transfer protein (CETP) -- involved in carrying cholesterol in the bloodstream -- as being associated with a longer life span. "The longer you live, the more common is the favorable variant," Lipton noted. "The incidence is 5 percent at age 50 and 35 percent at age 95."

The new study followed 523 people, all age 70 or older, for four years, testing their mental function and relating it to the variant of the CETP gene they carried.

Participants who carried two copies of the variant gene experienced an age-related decline in mental function that was about half as rapid as people with two normal versions of the gene, the study found.

Individuals with two copies of the favorable CETP variant also had a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to those with two normal versions of the gene, the study found.

Besides its effects on the brain, the favorable CETP gene variant also appears to boost blood levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol, which helps prevent artery-blocking clots from forming.

How does the gene variant work its magic? Lipton put forth two theories.

"We know that it protects against disease in blood vessels," he said. "It lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke, and stroke is a risk factor for cognitive decline. So it protects the brain against atherosclerotic disease.

"The other mechanism is more speculative. It might protect against formation of proteins involved in Alzheimer's disease, such as beta-amyloid," Lipton said. The buildup of beta-amyloid protein plaques within brain tissue has long been a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

One expert found the study results intriguing.

"It's a great candidate gene for research on Alzheimer's disease and dementia," said Dr. James Burke, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

The benefit probably does not come from improved blood flow to the brain, he said. "I think it's related to lipid-cholesterol transport and metabolism," Burke said. Drugs that raise HDL level in the same way as the variant gene might therefore be useful against Alzheimer's disease, he reasoned.

According to the researchers, the CETP gene variant was first identified in a population of Ashkenazi Jews, descendents of western and central Europeans. The current study was done among an ethnically diverse population of people living in the Bronx who have been followed for 25 years.

It remains a small study that requires verification in broader research, Lipton said. "We have enrolled 600 additional people who we are following and we hope to enroll other groups," he noted.

Most studies of the genetics of Alzheimer's disease have concentrated on genes associated with increased risk, such as the ApoE-a4 gene, which also is involved in cholesterol metabolism, Lipton pointed out. "We hope that by understanding the genetics of the condition we can improve diagnosis or treatment or both," he said.

More information

There's more on Alzheimer's disease at the Alzheimer's Association  .

FRIDAY, Jan. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A combination of three nutrients might help improve memory in Alzheimer's patients by stimulating the growth of new brain connections (synapses), a new study shows.

Uridine, choline and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (all found in breast milk) are precursors to the fatty molecules that make up brain cell membranes, which form synapses.

"If you can increase the number of synapses by enhancing their production, you might to some extent avoid that loss of cognitive ability" that occurs in Alzheimer's patients, Richard Wurtman, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, said in a news release. He conducted the basic research that led to this investigational treatment.

In a clinical trial, 225 Alzheimer's patients were given a cocktail of the three nutrients, along with B vitamins, phosopholipids and antioxidants. Patients with mild Alzheimer's showed improvements in verbal memory.

The study was published Jan. 8 in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia.

Three additional clinical trials are underway in the United States and Europe. Results are expected within a few years.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer's disease.

THURSDAY, Dec. 31 (HealthDay News) -- America is getting older, and experts say the nation's health-care system is not prepared to deal with the coming "elder boom."

The oldest members of the 78-million-strong baby-boom generation are about to turn 65. And in the next three decades, the proportion of U.S. residents older than 65 will double, according to a report on the elder boom by the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

But it's more than a numbers game. Baby boomers are expected to enter old age with an array of chronic illnesses that will require high-cost medical treatment.

Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at the Yale University School of Medicine, said that the obesity epidemic in the United States has spurred an increase in diabetes and all of the chronic conditions that accompany that disease. Nonetheless, he explained, people are living into old age in growing numbers because medical science has developed ways to overcome their bad health habits.

In addition, growth in the elderly population will mean an increase in all of the conditions that normally come with old age: heart disease, cancer, dementia, lung disease, stroke and arthritis.

"We have the unfortunate combination of the greatest life expectancy in United States history coupled with a worse burden of chronic disease," Katz said. "We're living longer because we're very good with medical technology at preventing death, but we're certainly not living healthy lives."

To meet this challenge, health care might have to change in fundamental ways.

For example, only about 7,128 physicians are certified geriatricians, specialists in dealing with the health and problems of old age, according to the Institute of Medicine report "Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce," released in 2008. If nothing is done, researchers estimate that, by 2030, the number of geriatric physicians will have increased to only 7,750, far short of the predicted need at that time of 36,000.

"We are going in the opposite direction with that one," said Greg O'Neill, director of the National Academy on an Aging Society, a public policy research institute sponsored by the Gerontological Society of America. "We have fewer people certified as geriatricians than we did 10 years ago."

Unless alternatives are found, there also will need to be more beds available in nursing homes, chronic care facilities and hospitals to meet the elder boom. "It's about infrastructure and requires investments that no one at this time is prepared to make," Katz said.

The Institute of Medicine report argued for "bold initiatives" that would:

• Increase training and retention of geriatric specialists
• Educate the public about the best ways to care for aging family members and friends
• Revamp the health-care system's model of payment and service delivery to make it more effective and efficient.

"We're going to have a health-care system that's much more oriented toward chronic disease rather than acute disease," O'Neill predicted.

Doctors and health-care workers might be able to lessen the impact by trying to change current health trends or by pursuing new forms of care, Katz said.

The notion of the "medical home," in which older people with chronic disease are treated where they live, is another concept that proponents of the idea say could save money and improve health.

"Chronic disease can be managed in settings other than the traditional health-care settings," Katz said. He also cited programs already in place that aim to prevent and treat disease via the telephone or Internet.

Placing even more emphasis on prevention could help stem the tide of chronic disease and ensure that more people enter their old age in better health, he said.

"We know that eating well, being physically active and not smoking overwhelmingly determines our medical destinies," Katz said. "It's never too late. Frankly, the earlier in life the better, but we have evidence that switching to a healthier lifestyle in midlife can make a huge difference."

And O'Neill said there's evidence that the nation's seniors will be up to the challenge.

"Education is highly correlated with health in this country, and our levels of education have risen a lot with the baby boom," he said. "We have the best-educated cohorts of adults on the horizon. With education come good health-care decisions and an involvement in your own health care."

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about healthy aging.