Blood pressure meds may help prevent Alzheimer's

New research at Mount Sinai School of Medicine suggests that commonly used therapies for high blood pressure may help prevent the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's. Working with animals engineered to produce beta-amyloid, a plaque in the brain that builds up as Alzheimer's develops, researchers injected a series of drugs to see what kind of effect could be achieved. Seven of the drugs that demonstrated an ability to prevent the build-up of beta-amyloid were for high blood pressure. One of the drugs--Diovan--was most effective. Diovan is used to prevent high blood pressure in the elderly, suggesting that they may also be getting an additional benefit from their treatment.

- read the report on Alzheimer's from Forbes