We discovered that high cholesterol as a mid-age (but NOT old age) risk factor in Alzheimer's disease.
Mid-life hypercholesterolemia is now, a widely accepted early (mid-age) risk factor for this devastating disease. All of the basic science and clinical evidence currently points to hypercholesterolemia is as an early (not a late) risk factor for AD. High cholesterol present ONLY during old age does NOT seem to increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease. The mechanisms for this phenomenon are unknown.
Studies focused on old subjects only, sadly, continue to appear in the literature from time to time claiming that there is no association between hypercholesterolemia and AD; these studies ignore the mentioned age-related dynamics and the risk exerted by hypercholesterolemia in earlier years.
It is important to emphasize that mid-life hypercholesterolemia is only one of several risk factors for sporadic AD (yes, that means a RISK factor, not the cause of the disease). The strongest risk factors for this disease are AGE and the APOLIPOPROTEIN E4 isoform, with a number of other genetic polymorphisms adding smaller, yet measurable, degrees of risk.
All these observations indicate that we must direct EARLY multi-prong approaches to disease prevention.
References.
1-Pappolla MA, et al: Mild hypercholesterolemia is an early risk factor for the development of Alzheimer amyloid pathology. Neurology. 2003 Jul 22;61(2):199-205
