Heavy smokers and drinkers develop Alzheimer’s years before people who don’t drink or smoke as much, a new report says. The study, presented Wednesday at the American Academy of Neurology meeting in Chicago, suggests heavy drinking and smoking might be accelerating damage to the brain, which could lead to Alzheimer’s. But the flip side of the study is a message of hope: People who... 

The April 8 issue of Neurology carries the results of a study conducted on 486 people ranging in age from 60 to 90 with no symptoms of dementia. These same people were monitored for about six years each to see if anyone developed Alzheimer’s disease. Earlier bouts of depression were logged, too, with 134 study participants reporting at least one depressive episode that required medical intervention.... 

People who have big bellies in their 40s are much more likely to get Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia in their 70s, according to new research that links the middle-aged spread to a fading mind for the first time. The study of more than 6,000 people found that the more fat they had in their guts in their early to mid-40s, the greater their chances of becoming forgetful and confused and... 

If both your parents have Alzheimer’s disease, you probably are more much likely than other people to get it, researchers said on Monday. Their study focused on 111 families in which both parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia among the elderly, and assessed the risk for developing it among the offspring. The parents had 297 children who lived...