Brain Health and Balance 
If you could predict whether or not you would get dementia in the next 10 years, would you do it?
This is a question that we may need to answer soon, because the test has been proven in research.
Here is a short video and article describing the test and their hopes for the future.(1) And here is the original article.(2)
We do have some tests already available to detect early disease, before symptoms are apparent. the problem is that they involve sticking big needles into the spine, MRI, and other more fancy and less accessible tests that are either invasive, time-consuming, or expensive, or only find the problem after it has progressed far.
That is what makes this test so exciting. This test has shown to be predictive out to 3 years, but it may work as early as 10 years before symptoms! And it only requires a blood draw.
So, what are we looking for? There are 10 lipids (fats in the blood) that are LOWER than normal in the people who will develop these diseases. The researchers stated, “We don’t really know the source of the ten [lipids], though we know they are generally present in cell membranes.” So, the predictive test shows that people with this brain dysfunction (or about to develop it) have lower levels of the fats that are necessary for nerve cells to work.
But then there is the question of “What do you if you find out you will get dementia or Alzheimer’s? sooner than most?”
Well, sure, IF we can do something to prevent or postpone it.
Don’t you know that the pharmaceutical companies are already trying to develop a drug to address this.
There is an interesting paradox here. First, did you know that cholesterol is also a lipid — one critical for cell membrane function? Oh, well, they already have a drug to take care of this then, right? OOPS! Cholesterol lipid drugs are to LOWER the cholesterol-lipid, not RAISE it. It makes you wonder if cholesterol drugs may be part of the problem. No one has suggested that, yet.
And then, the deeper question, “What is the CAUSE of the low lipids?”
Well, that is what this series on Brain Health is about, How find the CAUSES of dysfunction and how to make your brain healthier, naturally.
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