last month in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, say theirs is the first trial of its kind to directly look at the impact of exercise on the brains and memory function of people at high risk of Alzheimer’s.
To be frank, the findings aren’t a home run. While both groups did report slightly better memory function a year later, those who worked out vigorously weren’t significantly better off than those who only stretched. That could mean that either kind of exercise can help people with mild cognitive decline stay healthier, but it isn’t necessarily what the authors were expecting to find.
However, when the authors looked more closely at the brains of their volunteers, they did find an intriguing pattern. Both groups on average experienced brain shrinkage and a build-up of amyloid plaque—the hardy, insoluble form of amyloid that’s thought to signify the progression of the disease .
Again, this isn’t a game changer, at least not for now. It’s a small pilot study, with the most promising results coming from an even smaller group of volunteers. And like so many potential interventions for Alzheimer’s that tested well initially, namely anti-amyloid drugs, it’s more than possible that larger trials will fail to find any major effect of exercise on people already on the path to dementia.