This study had remarkable results.
. Over a period of 4.3 years, 11.2 percent of these patients developed the condition, 8.1 percent of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and 2.6 percent of whom were diagnosed with vascular dementia.
Interestingly, results were more pronounced in patients who had been taking lithium for less than one year or more than five, when compared with patients who had exposure somewhere in the middle . Researchers did note the relatively small number of patients using lithium, which limits study results. In addition, 73 percent of study participants who had been exposed to lithium had mania/bipolar disorder.
This is why researchers think lithium may be effective in treating or preventing Alzheimer's disease.Lithium could have potential in other neurological conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and stroke. But for Alzheimer's disease specifically, lithium blocks a certain protein that is directly involved with the formation of abnormalities in a patient's brain.
"There's an enzyme called glycogen synthase kinase, or GSK3, which is involved in the abnormal phosphorylation of tau protein, which makes tangles in Alzheimer's disease,"
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