Limiting Sugar in the First 1,000 Days of Life May Reduce Dementia Risk Decades Later

Restricting sugar intake during the first 1,000 days from conception was associated with a lower risk of dementia, delayed disease onset by about 2.5–2.9 years, and better brain health in later life. Using the end of UK sugar rationing in September 1953 as a natural experiment, researchers analyzed 64,737 UK […]

Incidental Coronary Calcium on Routine Chest CT Predicts Future Cardiovascular Risk as Well as Dedicated Heart Scans

Incidental coronary artery calcium (CAC) identified on routine nongated chest CT scans predicts future coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events with prognostic performance comparable to dedicated gated cardiac CT, supporting its incorporation into routine clinical practice for cardiovascular risk assessment. This study included 2,472 participants from the […]

Modifiable Cardiovascular Risk Factors Linked to More Vulnerable Coronary Plaques

The burden of modifiable cardiovascular risk factors—not just the total number of risk factors—is strongly associated with greater coronary plaque vulnerability, suggesting that controlling these risk factors may help reduce the development of high-risk plaques. In this US study of 131 patients who underwent 3-vessel optical coherence tomography imaging, researchers […]

Higher TMAO Levels Linked to Greater Risk of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Higher blood levels of the gut microbiome-derived metabolite trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) were independently associated with an increased risk of developing abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) and experiencing serious AAA-related events in apparently healthy older adults. Researchers measured plasma TMAO levels in 4,442 community-dwelling adults aged 65 years or older from the […]

Moderate Coffee Consumption May Benefit the Cardiovascular System, but High Doses Caffeine Can Be Harmful

Moderate consumption of naturally caffeinated beverages, particularly coffee, is generally associated with a lower risk of several cardiovascular diseases, whereas high doses of caffeine—such as those found in many energy drinks—may increase cardiovascular risk. Caffeine is one of the world’s most widely consumed psychoactive substances, and its cardiovascular effects vary […]

WHO Dementia Prevention Guidelines Updated

To reduce the risk of cognitive decline and/or dementia specifically, the WHO just released updated guidance and dementia-specific recommendations: cognitive training may be offered to older adults with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment and engagement in cognitive stimulation may be encouraged. Engagement in social activity interventions may be recommended. […]

Salivary Cortisol Patterns May Indicate Cognitive Aging

Older adults with higher cumulative daily cortisol levels experienced faster cognitive decline, while healthier day-to-day cortisol variability was linked to slower decline, suggesting that salivary cortisol may serve as an early biomarker of cognitive aging, although it was not associated with short-term Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk. In this US prospective […]

Ketogenic Diet Beneficial in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

A randomized controlled trial found that a ketogenic diet significantly improved metabolic health, cognitive performance, and psychiatric symptoms in people with schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar I disorders, with improvements in depressive symptoms linked to ketosis rather than weight loss. In this study, 58 outpatients were randomized to either a ketogenic diet […]

Smell Loss Linked to Depression

Subjective olfactory impairment (self-reported smell loss) is consistently associated with a higher likelihood of depression, whereas objectively measured olfactory impairment is more strongly linked to depression in older adults and individuals with complete smell loss. This systematic review and meta-analysis included 23 population-based studies representing 17 independent cohorts and 187,056 […]

Accelerated Biological Aging Linked to Higher Cancer Risk

Accelerated biological aging was associated with a higher risk of early-onset solid cancers in young adults, particularly lung, gastrointestinal, and uterine cancers, suggesting that biological aging may help explain the rising incidence of cancer in recent generations. In a study of 154,169 young adults from the UK Biobank, systemic biological […]