Researchers at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons have found that Alzheimer’s disease can be prevented and checked in non-Latinos black people if they pursue higher education.
One of the biggest reasons for Alzheimer’s is the APOE e4 gene. The higher the education level, the more suppressed the gene will be, hence lower the chances of the disease in non-Latino black adults.
The research was led by Jet Vonk, who is a Ph.D. and a post-doctoral scientist at the Taub Institute of Research on Alzheimer’s department at Vagelos College at Columbia University.
Her paper ‘Education Moderates the Relation Between APOE e4 and memory in non-demented Non-Hispanic Black Older Adults’ will also be published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Higher education suppresses Alzheimer’s disease in white males too
Before this, various studies have proved that how higher education can lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in white adults. These researches were carried out on people that contain the APOE e4 gene and are a great risk. Aged people, mostly above the 50s that carry the APOE e4 gene, have poor comprehension and thinking abilities as compared to others. This is well before Alzheimer’s disease was detected in any of them.
According to Vonk, the most bothering issue with Alzheimer’s disease is that nothing can be done to prevent it so far and there’s no cure to this disease. However, every day we are getting closer to know how this works.
The study was also carried out on women and students carriers too who are pursuing higher education after high school. They performed equally well in comparison to the non-carriers. It’s still a shame that we don’t have any clinical procedures for treating this disease, but as we understand more about it, we will be able to work on the other factors too to suppress the risks associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
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Columbia University is a private institution that was founded in 1754. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 6,202, its setting is urban, and the campus size is 36 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Columbia University’s ranking in the 2020 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #3.
Located in New York City, Columbia is comprised of three undergraduate schools – Columbia College, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and the School of General Studies – as well as a number of graduate and professional schools, including the highly ranked Business School, Teachers College, Law School and College of Physicians and Surgeons.
