Original broadcast date: January 11, 2009

Recent reports from the Canadian Alzheimer’s Society state that the number of Canadians who will develop Alzheimer Disease will double in 25 years to 1.3 million people. They are urging more funding for research to find a means to treat and perhaps prevent the changes that occur within the brain that cause the disease.

A new study from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, published in the December 26 issue of the journal Neuron, has found when the brain doesn’t get enough sugar glucose which can occur when cardiovascular disease restricts blood flow in arteries to the brain, a process is launched that ultimately produces the sticky clumps of protein that appear to be a cause of Alzheimer’s.

• Dr. Robert Vasser, PhD, Associate Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology (specializing in Molecular Mechanisms of Alzheimer’s Disease) at Northwestern University Medical Center