VA Research Highlights Brain Health Interventions for Aging and Huntington's Disease
Recent research from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has unveiled promising findings regarding brain health, focusing on interventions for healthy brain aging and managing Huntington's disease. A VA Kansas City study indicated that supplementation with nicotinamide riboside, a form of vitamin B3, could promote healthy brain aging and reduce cognitive decline. In a mouse model, this supplement improved memory and learning, reduced inflammation in brain immune cells, and increased gene activation related to learning and memory. Separately, VA Portland researchers conducted a pilot study on time-restricted eating for individuals with Huntington's disease. Twenty participants limited their eating to a six-to-eight-hour window daily for 12 weeks. The intervention was well-tolerated, with participants showing improvements in disease severity scores and a 13% average decline in blood biomarkers of nerve cell damage. These findings suggest that time-restricted eating could potentially slow the progression ...
