As research continues to push the boundaries of how we can treat various diseases that accompany aging, it’s also becoming apparent that these medical advances and innovations may also help us better understand and respond to the risk of dementia. In recent weeks, several major studies have demonstrated that treatments and preventive measures for other illnesses may also be valuable in the fight to prevent or forestall the onset of dementia.

First comes word from a study in Nature that the shingles vaccine may play a role in protecting you to fight off dementia. According to this research, which involved more than 280,000 participants in Wales (ages 71-88), those adults who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia in the 7 years following their vaccination than those who did not receive the vaccine. As we’ve previously highlighted, scientists believe the herpes virus responsible for shingles may play some kind of role in the development of dementia. While this new study still does not definitively spell out why the vaccine is effective in fighting off dementia, it is hypothesized that it may have to do with protection against the kind of neuroinflammation that is associated with dementia. Regardless of the possible connection, the results of receiving this vaccine appear clear and were especially noteworthy in female participants who, following the vaccination, had a much greater reduction in new diagnoses of dementia than did men in the study. Given that adherence to the recommended shingles vaccine is currently low, this finding might be one more reason to roll up your sleeve for this safe and effective measure to reduce your likelihood of shingles and potentially lower your risk for dementia.

Another common cause of problems for aging adults is high cholesterol levels and the associated cardiovascular damage that can result, and many are prescribed statins to keep their LDL cholesterol in check. A new study published in the BMJ Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry found that maintaining low levels of LDL cholesterol can also have significant implications for lowering your risk of all causes of dementia. According to this research, looking at data from over 570,000 participants in South Korea without a diagnosis of dementia, having an LDL level below 70 mg/dL (crucial to lowering your risk of a significant cardiac event) is also associated with a reduced risk of dementia by up to 25%. The use of a statin to get your rate to that level or below was associated with even a greater risk reduction for dementia. Again, the exact reasons for this association between lowered LDL levels and reduced dementia diagnoses are not clear. There are theories that perhaps it has to do with interference with the development of amyloid plaque associated with Alzheimer’s or reduced inflammation, but this was only an observational study, so no cause and effect can be deciphered. More research needs to be done to better clarify the relationship between cholesterol and dementia, and this research should not lead healthy individuals with naturally occurring low LDL levels to start a statin, but it does suggest the value of managing your cholesterol levels as part of a strategy to keep your brain strong and dementia free. For more on this study, click here and here.

Finally, for those of you currently taking or considering using some of the new GLP-1 weight loss drugs, such as Ozempic or Wegovy, interesting new connections between their use and the reduction of risk for dementia are also surfacing. We know that these drugs work by suppressing appetite and reducing inflammation. And we know that obesity can trigger a number of diseases associated with aging, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. We now have a new study published in JAMA Neurology that analyzed 26 different previous clinical trials and found that GLP-1s were “associated with a statistically significant reduction in dementia or cognitive impairment.” Again, the exact mechanisms and causation remain unclear, and reduction of dementia risk alone would not be reason to start taking a GLP-1, but the evidence is building for a strong connection between these drugs and dementia and more insight into this connection is expected later this year when 2 clinical trials investigating the use of semaglutide as a therapy for early Alzheimier’s are expected to be published.