New blood test could be a game changer for those living with Alzheimer's disease
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14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ozempic May Help Prevent This Medical Emergency, According To New Research
You've probably heard by now that Ozempic may do much more than *just* help you lose weight and manage your blood sugar. Along with lowering the risk of Alzheimer's disease, tamping down PCOS symptoms, and combating a slew of other serious health conditions, three new studies suggest that the medication could help prevent and treat stroke. It may seem like a random link, but doctors say it actually makes a lot of sense. We tapped two neurologists and a doctor who prescribes Ozempic for more details. Meet the experts: Clifford Segil, DO, is a neurologist at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA; Amit Sachdev, MD, is the medical director in the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University; Mir Ali, MD, is medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA What do the studies say? All three studies were recently presented at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery's annual meeting, and they have a common theme. The first was published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery. For the study, researchers analyzed data from a global database and a database from the University of Wisconsin, looking at more than 2 million people who had a stroke. Of those, nearly 44,000 were also on Ozempic. The researchers found that people who took Ozempic were less likely to die from stroke, and the differences were huge. In the global database, 5.26 percent of Ozempic users initially died from their strokes, compared to 21.6 percent of those who didn't take the medication. The University of Wisconsin group had similar results: 5.26 percent of Ozempic users died from stroke compared to 26.6 percent of those who didn't take the medication. The next study was also published in the Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery. It looked at ER records for people who had a stroke and those who were likely using Ozempic. (The researchers looked at medical codes that usually suggest a patient is on Ozempic, but couldn't definitively say they were taking the medication.) The researchers found that people who likely used Ozempic had both a lower risk of stroke and a lower risk of dying from any cause compared to those who didn't take the medication. For the final study, researchers analyzed patient records from six months and 12 months after people had a brain hemorrhage, and a year and two years after having a stroke. The researchers discovered that people who used a GLP-1 receptor agonist medication like Ozempic had a lower risk of cognitive side effects, seizures, future brain bleeds, and death after a brain hemorrhage and stroke. Why might Ozempic help prevent or treat stroke? All of these studies found a link between people who took Ozempic and a lower risk of having stroke or serious complications from a stroke. But it's important to point out that they didn't prove taking Ozempic will have this effect. That said, there are a few reasons why Ozempic may have this impact. It could simply be tied to weight, says Amit Sachdev, MD, medical director in the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University. 'Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular health,' he says. 'Reducing excess weight is expected to have a clear and positive impact on overall health, including cardiovascular health.' Clifford Segil, DO, a neurologist at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, CA, agrees. 'Lowering a person's weight lowers a person's fats circulating through their blood or their lipid level,' he explains. 'High lipid levels, or fats, circulating through your blood can cause clogged pipes in your brain or an ischemic stroke.' But Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists also help improve a range of health conditions that are linked with stroke, points out Mir Ali, MD, medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA. 'It's hard to say if this is due to improvement in blood sugar control, weight loss, or other health conditions,' he says. More ways to lower your risk of stroke Taking Ozempic isn't for everyone, and doctors stress that we're not quite there yet with actually recommending the medication to lower your risk of stroke. If you want to lower your risk of stroke, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends taking these steps: Focus on your diet. That means eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, and minimizing foods high in saturated fats, trans fat, sodium, and cholesterol. Try to maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or having obesity increases the risk of stroke, Dr. Ali points out. Move regularly. Getting at least 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity physical activity can help. Don't smoke. Smoking is a big risk factor for stroke. Limit . Men should have no more than two drinks a day, while women should have no more than one, per the CDC. However, doctors generally recommend having even less. Do your best to manage underlying health conditions. That includes cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, and heart disease—all of which are risk factors for stroke. Of course, if you have a family history of stroke or personal risk factors, it's important to talk to a healthcare professional. They can offer personalized guidance to help keep you healthy. You Might Also Like Jennifer Garner Swears By This Retinol Eye Cream These New Kicks Will Help You Smash Your Cross-Training Goals
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16 hours ago
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Health Matters: 9 hospitalized in Salmonella outbreak linked to pistachios
Dozens of salmonella cases have been reported and 9 people have been hospitalized after an outbreak of infections which have been linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products. Katherine Ward has this story and more in Health Matters for Wednesday Aug. 6, 2025.
Boston Globe
17 hours ago
- Boston Globe
New hope for Alzheimer's: Groundbreaking Harvard study finds lithium reverses brain aging
The research suggests a new approach to preventing and treating the mind-robbing disease. Advertisement 'It seems to somehow turn back the clock,' said the team's senior author, Dr. The findings come amid a rising tide of Alzheimer's and growing urgency to pinpoint an effective treatment for the For years, researchers believed the buildup of sticky clumps of protein, known as amyloid plaques, fueled the devastating cascade of brain degeneration in Alzheimer's. But Advertisement Yankner now believes that may be a lithium deficiency. Dr. Bruce Yankner sat in his office at Harvard Medical School next to a photograph of a brain with Alzheimers on Monday, Aug. 4. Heather Diehl/For The Boston Globe Lithium has long been used to treat mental health conditions, particularly bi-polar disorder. But the form of lithium typically used for such treatments, lithium carbonate, is different than the one used by the Yankner team, which employed lithium orotate . His team studied brain tissue donated from about 400 people post mortem, as well as blood samples and a battery of memory tests performed yearly before their death. The participants ranged from cognitively healthy at the time of their death to having full-blown Alzheimer's. The scientists found higher levels of lithium in cognitively healthy people. But as amyloid began forming in the early stages of dementia, in both humans and in mice, the amyloid bound to the lithium, restraining it and reducing its availability to surrounding brain cells. That depleted the lithium even in parts of the brain that were amyloid free, essentially reducing lithium's protective function. To test whether lithium depletion was driving the disease or simply a byproduct of it, they fed healthy mice a lithium-restricted diet, draining their lithium levels. This appeared to accelerate their brain aging process, creating inflammation and reducing the ability of nerve cells to communicate. That spurred memory loss in the mice, as measured by their diminished performance in several laboratory memory tests. The researchers then fed a restricted-lithium diet to mice that were genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's-like amyloid plaques and abnormal tangles of another protein, called tau, and witnessed a dramatic acceleration of the disease. Advertisement These images show what happens to the brains of Alzheimer's mice when they are placed on a lithium deficient diet. It shows that lithium deficiency markedly increases the number of amyloid plaques and the number of tangle-like structures in the brain, resembling advanced Alzheimer's disease in humans. Yankner Lab But they were able to reverse the disease-related damage and restore memory function, even in older mice with advanced disease, by returning lithium to their diet. (Lithium orotate, the compound the scientists used, can evade capture by Alzheimer's amyloid plaques). These images show that treatment of the Alzheimer mice with a very low dose of lithium orotate almost completely abolishes both the plaques and the tangle-like structures. Yankner Lab Other scientists not involved in the research said the findings create a new approach to designing medications to treat and prevent Alzheimer's. 'This study is looking at it from a novel angle,' said 'I didn't expect that the lithium level [in our body] would be this critical,' she said. 'I just hadn't thought about it this way.' The amount of lithium in medications used for mental health conditions is very high and can be toxic to elderly patients. But the amount of lithium used by Yankner's team was one-thousandth the level, essentially mimicking the amount naturally found in the brain. Indeed, mice fed tiny amounts throughout their adult life showed no signs of toxicity. Earlier research has suggested a link between sustained intake of lithium and lower levels of dementia. Notably, Advertisement 'When we're thinking about the therapeutics of a replacement, if you're lowering something, you just have to replace it back to the natural levels,' he said. 'That seems a lot safer than introducing something that our body is not used to, or doesn't already need in order to function. ' 'That's a really good rationale for pursuing it,' he said. A number of factors are linked through research to a higher risk of Alzheimer's and dementia including advanced age, family history, and genetics, as well as several modifiable factors such as diet, smoking, hypertension and diabetes. Liviu Aron, first author of the study that links lithium deficiency to Alzheimer's disease, looked at samples of human and mouse brains in the Harvard lab on Aug. 4. Heather Diehl/For The Boston Globe Many foods already touted for their health benefits naturally contain higher amounts of lithium — But Kaeberlein and other researchers said the real test of the Harvard team's findings would be a large clinical trial in people, with half of the participants receiving small doses of lithium orotate and the others a sham substance, to compare the findings. Kaeberlein said the safety track record of this form of lithium, which showed no toxicity in animals, may help speed trials in people. Advertisement The Harvard findings 'line up with a lot of earlier work, both in the brain and in normal aging,' Kaeberlein said. And he added something rarely heard from scientists when discussing cutting-edge research and a potential medication that may fundamentally change the course of a dreaded disease. This work, he said, 'feeds my optimism that this will lead to potential therapeutics.' But one obstacle to advancing the research is the freeze on Kay Lazar can be reached at
