Levels of Fat in Blood May Reveal Alzheimer’s Disease

With more than 5.6 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer's, and the general population aging at a rapid pace, researchers are struggling to find a way of discovering the disease before it advances to unmanageable levels. Recently, they found that blood fat levels could constitute a new biomarker.

In other words, studying how much fat a person has in their bloodstream could enable experts to identify the condition before it sets in completely. Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative form of dementia, for which there is currently no cure, PsychCentral reports.

“Our study identifies this biomarker as a potential new target for treating or preventing Alzheimer’s disease,” Mayo Clinic epidemiologist and study author, Michelle M. Mielke, PhD, explains.

Details of the new study, which was carried out on 99 women aged 70 to 79, were published in the latest online issue of the esteemed medical journal Neurology.