srcset=”https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=300 300w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=400 400w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=500 500w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=600 600w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=700 700w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=800 800w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=837 837w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=900 900w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1003 1003w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1100 1100w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1200 1200w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1300 1300w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1400 1400w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1500 1500w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1600 1600w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1674 1674w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1700 1700w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1800 1800w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=1900 1900w, https://images.newscientist.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/24125411/SEI_2944460911.jpg?width=2006 2006w”
sizes=”(min-width: 1288px) 837px, (min-width: 1024px) calc(57.5vw + 55px), (min-width: 415px) calc(100vw – 40px), calc(70vw + 74px)”
loading=”eager” fetchpriority=”high” data-image-context=”Article” data-image-id=”2524278″
data-caption=”Addressing nutritional deficiencies could improve cognition in people with dementia”
data-credit=”CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images”>
Addressing nutritional deficiencies could improve cognition in people with dementia
CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images
A customized program that integrates targeted medical interventions with lifestyle adjustments appears to enhance memory and functionality in individuals experiencing mild cognitive decline or early-stage dementia. This approach involves evaluating factors affecting cognition, such as mould exposure, infections, or hormonal deficiencies, and devising a personalized plan to address them.
Dementia encompasses several conditions impacting memory, cognition, and daily functioning. While there is no cure, treatments typically aim to alleviate symptoms. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease—which comprises approximately 60 to 70 percent of dementia cases—certain medications like lecanemab can eliminate the sticky protein plaques in the brain that are believed to play a role in the disease.
However, some contend that these medications do not substantially improve symptoms. This may be attributed to the intricate nature of Alzheimer’s and other dementia forms, which increasingly appear to involve age-related brain changes alongside genetic, health, and lifestyle influences. “[Patients] didn’t get well because we weren’t treating what was causing it in the first place,” states Kat Toups from Bay Area Wellness, a private practice in Walnut Creek, California.
Toups and her team have explored the potential of individualized treatment plans. “The approach is: let’s find all the things that are hurting the brain [and] get rid of those,” explains Toups. “Then let’s put back in whatever the brain and the whole body is needing as far as nutrients and hormones, and then let’s do things for neuroplasticity to help regain your brain.”
The team assembled 73 individuals, averaging 65 years old, with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia. “Some of them met [the] criteria for Alzheimer’s and others for MCI [mild cognitive impairment],” Toups notes.
They all underwent tests to pinpoint potential contributors to their symptoms. In addition to blood tests for Alzheimer’s biomarkers, researchers evaluated inflammation levels and checked for underlying infections or deficiencies related to hormones, nutrition, or microbes. With this information, personalized treatment plans were crafted for 50 participants, including addressing nutritional deficiencies with supplements.
Participants were also advised to maintain a plant-rich diet, engage in aerobic and strength training six days a week, and perform daily cognitive training through games targeting memory, attention, and visual-processing speed. They received advice on optimizing sleep and managing stress as well.
The other 23 participants continued their usual treatment and lifestyle practices.
After nine months, participants in the personalized group experienced a 13.7-point increase in their overall cognitive score—measured by CNS Vital Signs, a standard computer-based cognitive test—compared to a 4.5-point decline in the standard-care group. Improvements were noted across specific areas of the test, including memory (a 10.6-point increase versus a 2.7-point decline), executive function (a 9.8-point increase versus a 2.2-point decrease), and processing speed (a 6.9-point increase versus a 1-point decrease). “Over 90 per cent of the patients in the precision-medicine approach had statistically significant improvements,” Toups states.
Ana Daugherty from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, finds the results promising and indicative of a growing effort to tackle the numerous known and suspected risk factors for cognitive decline through personalized approaches. “The precision-medicine approach can incorporate the many health and genetic risk factors and lifestyle resiliency factors that we’ve identified as a field over the last several decades.” However, she emphasizes that larger studies are necessary to confirm these findings.
Previous evidence on personalized medicine was primarily based on case reports, with limited data from randomized-controlled trials. “This trial provides the most rigorous evidence to date,” says Christin Glorioso from NeuroAge Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based biotech firm.
Nonetheless, blood biomarkers and dementia indicators on brain scans remained unchanged from the start to the end of the study in both groups. Andrew Surmak, an independent imaging scientist in Baltimore, Maryland, acknowledges the challenge of assessing the impact of an intervention on a condition’s progression in a small group over a brief period. “In many cases, improvements may reflect changes in functional or cognitive measures rather than true modification of underlying neurodegenerative pathology.”
Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent participants benefited specifically from the personalized interventions compared to lifestyle changes, such as regular exercise and cognitive training, which are repeatedly linked to reduced dementia risk. “Separating their individual contribution becomes very difficult, especially when interventions are layered and individualised,” remarks Thomas Holland from Rush University in Chicago. “In most cases, it is likely the cumulative effect that matters most, rather than a single isolated component.”
Glorioso suggests future trials could involve blinding participants to certain aspects of their intervention, like whether they received supplements or a placebo. “The unblinded design, largely negative biomarker findings and inability to attribute effects to specific interventions leave important questions unanswered.”
However, Toups argues for swift implementation of these interventions. The control group was offered six months of personalized interventions and lifestyle guidance after the study concluded, she notes. These unpublished results indicate that they did not improve as rapidly as those who began earlier, she adds. “The delay [is] hurting them. There’s no time to waste when your brain is degenerating.”
Topics:
