Lewy body disease is a serious brain condition that affects memory, thinking, and movement. It is the second most common type of dementia, after Alzheimer’s disease.
Many people have never heard of it, but it plays a big role in two well-known brain disorders: Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
This disease gets its name from tiny clumps of a protein called alpha-synuclein that build up in the brain. These clumps are called Lewy bodies. They form when the protein folds the wrong way. Over time, as more of these clumps appear, they begin to damage brain cells. This can lead to memory loss, confusion, and trouble with movement.
Depending on which symptoms appear first, a person may be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease or Lewy body dementia. But in both cases, the root cause is the same—Lewy bodies in the brain.
In the past, the only way to know for sure if someone had Lewy body disease was to look at their brain after they died. This made early diagnosis very hard. But now, scientists from Lund University in Sweden have made a big discovery. They created a test that can find Lewy body disease before any symptoms appear.
This test checks a fluid called cerebrospinal fluid, which surrounds the brain and spine. This fluid can carry signs of disease from inside the brain. The researchers tested this fluid in more than 1,100 people who didn’t have any symptoms of memory or movement problems.
To their surprise, about 10% of those people already had signs of Lewy bodies in their brain fluid. That means the disease had already started silently, even though the people felt fine.
Later, some of those people began to have memory or thinking problems and were diagnosed with Parkinson’s or Lewy body dementia. This shows the test can find the disease years before symptoms begin.
The scientists also found something else interesting. Many of the people who had signs of Lewy body disease also had trouble smelling things, even though they had no other symptoms.
Because of this, the researchers believe that a simple smell test could be an early warning sign. They suggest that people over 60 take a smell test, and if they have problems, they could then get the spinal fluid test.
This discovery gives new hope. Right now, scientists are working on new drugs that might slow or stop Lewy body disease. But for these drugs to work well, they need to be given early—before the brain is too damaged. This new test might make that possible.
The researchers also found that some people with Lewy body disease had two other brain proteins linked to Alzheimer’s disease. These people’s condition got worse faster. This information could help doctors predict how quickly a person might get worse.
The team hopes that, just like there is now a blood test for Alzheimer’s, a blood test for Lewy body disease might be possible in the future. This would make it even easier to catch the disease early. It’s harder to do because the proteins are hard to find in blood, but researchers believe it can be done.
This kind of research gives hope to many people. If we can find brain diseases early, we might be able to protect memory, movement, and quality of life for millions of people.
If you care about dementia, please read studies that eating apples and tea could keep dementia at bay, and Olive oil: a daily dose for better brain health.
For more health information, please see recent studies what you eat together may affect your dementia risk, and time-restricted eating: a simple way to fight aging and cancer.
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