Research
Black Americans at greater Alzheimer’s risk
A new study examining older Black Americans’ perceptions of Alzheimer’s disease has found a lack of awareness of the devastating condition and has proposed strategies for supporting brain health in this population.
Absence of awareness of Alzheimer’s disease may undermine Black Americans’ ability to identify potential risk of the disease and its impact on their community, said Dr. Johanne Eliacin, PhD, Regenstrief Institute, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indiana University School of Medicine research scientist and study leader.
Eliacin notes that the research team’s findings may contribute to the development of effective and culturally sensitive strategies to address racial disparities in Alzheimer’s disease.
“We asked study participants whether they agree, disagree or are unsure that Black Americans are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to White Americans, and most were unsure. Yet Black Americans are at greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease than White Americans,” said Eliacin.
“And when Black Americans are diagnosed, they often have a greater burden because of the costs of managing the illness, lack of available support for patient and caregiver and all of the challenges of navigating the healthcare system for this very complex illness.
“Combined with socio-cultural determinants of health, many Black Americans are really disadvantaged when it comes to dealing with Alzheimer’s disease. We still have a lot of work to do.”
One study participant observed: “I think that there’s whispers about it…. But I don’t think it’s well-known and I don’t think it’s known as how truly dangerous it is. …the Black community doesn’t fully understand I think the implication. Not like cancer.”
To promote a healthy brain, 72% of female study participants versus 59% of male participants reported engaging in mental activity such as doing puzzles and 75% of all participants reported practicing a healthy lifestyle.
“The Black Americans we surveyed and interviewed see themselves as playing an important role in keeping themselves healthy and supporting healthy aging. They want to do more and they want to have the tools to do so,” said Eliacin.
“They are ready to play a role, but they need more education in terms of the breadth of activities that could help support a healthy brain. They also need additional support to facilitate access to resources so that they can engage in more activities for healthy brain support.
“They are eager to learn, but for messages on brain health to be well received and to have the biggest impact possible, we need to increase representation of minoritised groups in research and Black American community members have to be part of the decision-making process and the development of outreach programs.”
Based on study participants’ perceptions, the research team proposed strategies to promote brain health and to increase Alzheimer’s disease awareness among Black Americans, including:
- Invest in the Black community’s well-being throughout the lifespan.
- Proactively reach out to the Black community.
- Integrate information about Alzheimer’s disease and brain health into broader culturally appropriate wellness campaigns.
- Improve health, healthcare and research equity.
- The study is one of the first to provide insight into the views on brain health of lower socioeconomic status Black Americans living in a Midwest metropolitan area, a population often neglected or absent from clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
Dr. Eliacin notes that while there are many insights that can be drawn from this work that could be applicable to others, there is need for a large national study.
“Our study underscores the importance of developing culturally sensitive approaches that provide meaningful learning experiences about Alzheimer’s disease and brain health for Black Americans,” said study author Sophia Wang, M.D., of the Indiana University School of Medicine.
“The self-reported differences in Black women and men participating in healthy lifestyles also highlight other sociodemographic factors, such as gender, that should be considered as well as we develop and test approaches.”
The study has been published in the peer reviewed journal PEC Innovation.
Brain recordings show tirzepatide briefly silences food noise in one woman with obesity, but the effect appears temporary.
A rare brain study using implanted electrodes found that tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound, quiets brain signals linked to constant thoughts about food, but the effect appears temporary.
Researchers monitored brain activity in a 60-year-old woman with severe obesity who had electrodes surgically implanted as part of a clinical trial for treatment-resistant obesity.
The patient, identified as “Participant 3”, struggled with obsessive thoughts about food, leading to ordering takeaway or continual snacking even when she wanted to resist.
She reported eating large amounts until uncomfortably full, particularly pre-packaged cupcakes, fast-food roast beef sandwiches and French fries.
The woman had tried to manage her obesity through bariatric surgery, medication, behavioural therapy and weight-loss drugs.
She had also been prescribed dulaglutide, a GLP-1 inhibitor (a class of drugs that mimic hormones regulating blood sugar and appetite), which did not affect her weight or food preoccupation.
When prescribed tirzepatide for her type 2 diabetes before the brain surgery, the team gained a rare opportunity to observe how the drug alters brain signals tied to eating behaviour in real time.
Casey H. Halpern, is professor of neurosurgery and head of the division of stereotactic and functional neurosurgery at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
The researcher said: “Brain surgery to implant the electrodes is invasive, and thus it is extremely rare to study human brain activity in this way.
“This participant was already taking tirzepatide when she enrolled in the trial, but before any stimulation was delivered, giving us a unique opportunity to make foundational observations about how the drug alters brain signals.”
The electrodes were implanted in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region that helps regulate motivation and guides decisions around pleasure-seeking and impulse control.
Prior work shows that in people with obesity and binge eating disorder, signalling in this circuit is dysregulated.
After she reached her full dose of tirzepatide following surgery, the participant reported no food preoccupation and her NAc activity was quiet.
After five months, NAc activity returned to levels consistent with obesity, along with reports of severe food preoccupation, suggesting the drug’s effect was temporary.
In contrast, trial participants not taking tirzepatide showed the expected elevated NAc activity and frequent episodes of food preoccupation throughout monitoring.
Up to 60 per cent of people with obesity report experiencing “food noise”, meaning persistent thoughts about food that drive distress and dysregulated eating behaviours.
Binge eating disorder affects at least three million people in the US and is considered the country’s most common eating disorder.
“Until we better understand their action on the brain, it’s far too soon to call GLP-1 and GIP inhibitors miracle drugs for more conditions beyond type 2 diabetes and obesity,” Halpern said.
GIP inhibitors work alongside GLP-1 to regulate blood sugar and appetite.
Tirzepatide targets both GLP-1 and GIP receptors and was developed to manage type 2 diabetes.
“GLP-1 and GIP inhibitors are amazing medications at doing what they were developed for – managing blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes and weight loss in obesity,” said study investigator Kelly Allison, professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.
“This research shows us that they might be useful to manage food preoccupation and binge eating, but not in their current form.”
The clinical trial involves implanting intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) electrodes, a technique that records electrical activity in the brain, similar to devices used to treat drug-resistant epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.
The electrodes record NAc activity as participants encounter foods that typically trigger binge eating episodes.
Halpern’s previous research identified distinctive electrical activity in the NAc that arises just before food preoccupation and the urge to binge, but not when someone is simply hungry before a normal meal.
A pilot trial showed that delivering high-frequency stimulation to the NAc when craving-linked signals occurred could prevent binge eating behaviours.
“Although this study only featured the data from one person taking tirzepatide, it provides compelling data about how GLP-1 and GIP inhibitors alter electrical signals in the brain,” said co-first author Wonkyung Choi, a PhD candidate in Halpern’s lab.
“These insights should inspire further research into developing a treatment better tailored to the impulsivity traits of obesity and related eating disorders that is safe and long-lasting.”
Childhood loneliness increases the risk of dementia in later life, according to new research.
Adults who recalled being lonely and without a close friend in childhood faced a 41 per cent higher risk of developing dementia, even if they were no longer lonely as adults.
People who frequently felt lonely without close friends during youth showed accelerated cognitive decline — a worsening of memory and thinking — and started middle age with lower scores on these skills.
Researchers from universities in China, Australia and the US, including Harvard and Boston universities, analysed data from 13,592 Chinese adults tracked from June 2011 to December 2018.
The critical factor was the subjective feeling of loneliness itself. Those who reported often feeling lonely as children had a 51 per cent higher dementia risk, even if some had close friends.
However, those who only lacked close friends but did not feel lonely showed no significant difference in risk.
Nearly half of roughly 1,400 adults in the study reported being lonely and without close friends during childhood.
The 4.2 per cent who experienced both faced the highest risk of cognitive decline.
The link to dementia remained strong even for people who were no longer lonely in adulthood, suggesting early-life isolation can have lasting effects on brain health.
During childhood, the brain develops rapidly and is vulnerable to harm. Loneliness acts as a chronic stressor, flooding the developing brain with harmful hormones that can damage memory centres, and it reduces stimulation from social play and peer interaction that helps build robust neural networks.
A separate 2024 study of more than 10,000 older adults found that specific childhood hardships — including poverty, disruptive home environments or parental addiction — were directly linked to poorer cognitive function later in life.
Youth loneliness appears to be rising, partly linked to widespread social media use.
Among girls, 64 per cent aged five to seven, 67 per cent aged eight to 10, and 73 per cent aged 11 to 13 reported feelings of loneliness last year. More than a quarter of boys aged 11 to 17 in the US report feeling lonely.
Children face growing social isolation, with one in four Americans now eating every meal alone — a rate that has surged by over 50 per cent since 2003. Sharing meals with friends and family helps build bonds and positive memories in youth.
Fewer children are playing outside or joining team sports.
A recent study reported that one in three children do not play outside on school days, and one in five do not do so even at weekends.
The 2024 research found a direct, dose-dependent relationship between childhood adversity and cognitive problems in adults — the greater the early trauma, the greater the later risk.
For each significant increase in early trauma, individuals faced an eight per cent higher risk of daily memory issues and scored lower on objective tests of mental speed and focus.
Rates of high blood pressure in children have almost doubled since 2000, with more than one in 20 now affected, new global research shows.
In 2020, 6.2 per cent of under-19s had high blood pressure, compared with 3.2 per cent in 2000.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, now affects 114 million children worldwide, according to an international team including academics from the University of Edinburgh and Zhejiang University in China.
The authors examined data on 443,000 children from 21 countries and found obesity was a substantial driver of the problem.
Nearly 19 per cent of children and adolescents with obesity have high blood pressure, compared with 3 per cent among those with a healthy weight.
In England, one in ten (10.5 per cent) children in the first year of primary school is obese. By the final year, 22.2 per cent are obese, according to the National Child Measurement Programme.
High blood pressure occurs when the force of blood pushing against artery walls is consistently too high, which can damage blood vessels and organs over time.
Co-author Dr Peige Song of Zhejiang University attributed higher rates to unhealthy diets, decreased physical activity and rising childhood obesity.
She said: “The analysis showed that children and adolescents with obesity are nearly eight times more likely to develop hypertension.”
“Parents play a pivotal role in preventing and managing high blood pressure in children.
“Promoting healthy habits, such as a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains while minimising salt and sugar intake, can substantially reduce the risk of hypertension.”
Weight loss jabs my only temporarily reduce ‘food noise,’ study finds
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