Homocysteine is a toxic amino acid that can damage blood vessels. Homocysteine is a biomarker for cardiovascular disease when elevated in the blood. Alzheimer's disease occurs in older adults and causes memory loss, confusion and eventually death. Now a study reports that high blood levels of homocysteine in middle-aged women is linked with twice the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The 35 year long-term follow-up study is the longest study associating homocysteine with dementia.
Researchers from Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, analyzed the data of nearly 1,500 women between the ages of 38 and 60 participating in the Prospective Population Study of Women in Gothenburg. The participants were followed for 35 years. Blood samples and health questionnaires obtained from the participants were analyzed for homocysteine levels and dementia development. A genetic analysis was done on 550 blood samples.
The researchers found that women with the highest homocysteine levels were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease decades later, compared with women with the lowest homocysteine levels. In addition, women with highest homocysteine levels had a 70% higher risk for developing dementia. Findings also suggests that a homozygous (doubled) gene variant present in one in ten Swedes may reduce the risk of dementia by 65%. A heterozygous (mixed) gene variant present in four of ten Swedes may reduce the risk of dementia by 40%.
"Alzheimer's disease was more than twice as common among the women with the highest levels of homocysteine than among those with the lowest, and the risk for any kind of dementia was 70 per cent higher," states researcher Dr. Dimitri Zylberstein in a news release.
This discovery may help provide a way for determining Alzheimer's risk before signs of illness.
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