Rutgers researchers test nutrition approach to protect brain health in adults at high Alzheimer’s risk
NEW JERSEY – Rutgers Health researchers are launching a clinical trial to examine whether a nutrition-based approach using alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA, can help protect memory and brain health in older adults at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The six-month study will focus on adults 60 and older with mild cognitive impairment who carry at least one APOE4 allele, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Participants will receive either a daily ALA supplement or a placebo.
ALA is a fatty acid found in foods such as flaxseed, walnuts and canola oil. Researchers say it may help the brain produce docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA, a fatty acid important for brain structure and function.
The trial will examine whether daily ALA supplementation improves memory and thinking, strengthens the brain’s blood-brain barrier and supports healthy brain blood vessels in individuals at elevated Alzheimer’s risk.
“People who carry the APOE4 gene are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s, and unfortunately, they also appear to have more adverse effects from currently approved treatments,” said Michal Schnaider Beeri, director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center in the Rutgers Brain Health Institute and a core member of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. “Identifying treatments that can help maintain brain health while minimizing adverse effects in this high-risk population is therefore critical.”
Researchers say DHA supplements have shown limited cognitive benefits in past studies. Individuals with the APOE4 genotype often have low DHA levels in the brain, possibly due to difficulties transporting it across the blood-brain barrier.
“We are looking for safe, affordable strategies that may help protect the brain earlier, before dementia develops,” said Schnaider Beeri, who is leading the study. “By providing ALA, we hope to boost the brain’s own production of DHA, while also improving the health of the blood vessels that supply the brain. In our previous studies using mice engineered to carry the human APOE4 gene, we saw significant improvements in memory as well as in the structure and function of the blood-brain barrier.
This clinical study builds on those findings to test whether ALA can produce similar benefits in people.”
Researchers will assess changes in global cognition, memory and executive function, along with brain imaging measures of blood-brain barrier integrity and cerebral blood flow. Blood tests will evaluate biomarkers linked to brain vessel health and neurodegeneration.
“This study will allow us to look at cognition, brain imaging, and blood markers together,” said Schnaider Beeri. “That gives us a more complete picture of how ALA might benefit brain aging.”
The study is being conducted in collaboration with the Rutgers Clinical Research Center and Fred Kobylarz, a professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and geriatrician with Rutgers Health and the RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group.
Researchers said the findings could help lay the groundwork for a larger, multi-site clinical trial and potentially offer a low-cost, safe therapeutic option for older adults at elevated dementia risk.
Individuals interested in participating can complete the online ALA Study Form, email alastudy@njms.rutgers.edu or call 848-932-8412.
