Amino Acid Link Seen to Alzheimer’s

High amounts of an amino acid commonly found in the blood of elderly people may be associated with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers reported Sunday.

“These findings are important because they provide a testable hypothesis that it may be possible to prevent Alzheimer’s disease from developing in a portion of potential sufferers,” since the amino acid can be lowered by taking folic acid, said A. David Smith, one of the researchers.

But he cautioned that people should not take extra folic acid without consulting a physician.

Smith and Robert Clarke, both of Oxford University in England, discussed their findings in papers released at an American Medical Assn. conference at Duke University Medical Center.

They reported on a study of 164 patients 55 and older who had Alzheimer’s-type dementia. They found elevated levels of homocysteine in the patients’ blood. Levels of the amino acid increase with age and have also been linked to heart disease and stroke, they said.

“The stability of homocysteine levels over time and lack of relationship with duration of symptoms argue against these findings being a consequence of disease and warrant further studies,” said the report, published in Archives of Neurology.