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Scott: John, talk about our cognitive health.
With so much of our population growing older, how much of a priority is
that to maintain that part of our health as we age.
John: Well, Scott it's interesting because years ago, we were dying sooner.
And this wasn't quite as much of an issue as it is today.
And the baby boomer generation, of which I seem to be a member, is not
really thrilled about aging without a fight.
And we are living longer, we're taking better of ourselves.
We would prefer not to be misplacing our keys, we prefer to maintain the
memories that we built over the years.
So it's becoming a real driver among consumers as far as what can you do
for me to maintain cognitive health.
How can I think better in the moment, be more in the now, remember my to-do
list for today, know what I am going to do three weeks from now, and
remember what I did three weeks in the past.
I think that there are opportunities there, both scientifically and from a
commercial standpoint, if products can be developed in those directions.
Scott: When it comes to cognitive health, can you explain BDNF is, and
what that stands for?
John: Sure, that's a bit of a mouthful.
BDNF is an acronym for brain derived neurotropic factor.
BDNF is, in fact, a protein that is secreted by the BDNF gene and brain
derived neurotropic factor has been identified as being essential for
neural health.
In fact, there's considerable research indicating that as we age, the
hippocampus of our brain actually begins to shrink.
Studies have shown that mice, as they age, that part of their brain shrinks
and there is lower amount of BDNF in their circulation system as well as
resident in their brains.
So definitely implicated in the aging process, per se.
Scott: When it comes to memory loss, or the loss of cognitive
function, how much of a factor is BDNF as we age?
John: It's certainly a significant factor, it may not be the only
factor.
We've had a tendency with the rollout of the human genome and being
Westerners and want to figure everything out right now, we started
ascribing the one gene to one effect syndrome, but that's really not the
truth.
Generally speaking there's a cascade of gene expressions or targets and
markers that get modulated.
BDNF is a very significant player in that arena of cognitive health,
memory, peripheral nerve health.
But it's certainly may not be the only one.
So we're specifically keying in on BDNF now as one of the building blocks
for a whole platform of healthy memory.
Scott: You might have touched on this earlier, but can you explain
again, BDNF, what those levels do as we age and is everybody different when
it comes to that?
John: Sure, we're all different and anecdotally, you'll see examples of
people who live to be 95 and they're sharp as a tack, and others you'll
hear about they begin having dementia when they're 60.
So, we're all a little bit different but we age, we all age, we all die and
along the way, we will experience some physical changes due to the
deterioration of levels of BDNF.
Just as it's been shown that levels of ATP in people diminish over time,
their mitochondria become less efficient.
Same thing happens with BDNF. From a trend standpoint, all older people
have lower levels of BDNF.
Scott: In your research and studies that you've looked at, what can
that lead to? What can lower levels of BDNF lead to down the line?
John: Well BDNF has been positively correlated in research to be associated
with Alzheimer's, dementia, Parkinson's, they're some pretty serious
conditions that have been associate with low levels of BDNF.
Interestingly, patients with those conditions have been measured and have
been shown to have low levels of BDNF.
I'm not implying at this point, based upon what we know today, that if we
raise those levels we could cure Parkinson's or Alzheimer's, but clearly,
it's part of the mechanism of deterioration.
And even on a more surface level of just long and short term memory, BDNF
is essential.
It's definitely a reasonable therapy to consider trying to maintain healthy
levels of BDNF.
Scott: You mention Alzheimer's, and it continues to be a hot topic
these days.
Can you talk a little bit more about the potential connection of levels and
people with Alzheimer's and, we don't know exactly what causes, or how many
causes there are of Alzheimer's, but can that be a factor?
John: It always boils down to genetics and environment.
There's evidence that Alzheimer's and dementia and deterioration of the
neural systems of the brain, cerebral cortex, the whole thing is a genetic
predisposition kind of thing.
But having that predisposition doesn't automatically guarantee that you'll
develop the condition.
All we know at this point in time, is that when these conditions manifest,
levels of BDNF are certainly lower than in peers who have not developed
those conditions.
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How important is cognitive health as we age and what are some of the factors behind it? John Hunter explains BDNF, or brain derived neurotrophic factor is and how it may play a role in overall brain health as we age.
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