Speed Training Clears Amyloid in Men, Not Women
Get the Health newsletter
Daily health & science — research, biotech, public health, the studies worth knowing. Free.
- Hye Won Chai of Clemson University presented findings at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in London on 12 July showing that a computer-based speed training game altered beta-amyloid levels in men but had no effect in women
- Speed training increased the ratio of two forms of beta-amyloid in male participants' blood, suggesting improved brain clearance of beta-amyloid 42 — the protein that forms plaques in Alzheimer's disease — while two control training programs showed no such effect
- The 4.5-month study enrolled 53 people aged 65 and older (13 male), with about a third completing 2-4 hours per week of an object-location recall task that grows harder as performance improves
- A prior 20-year study by some of the same team found people aged 65+ who completed the training were 25% less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's or a related dementia compared with controls
- Sasha Novozhilova of McGill University called it "a really cool finding" that strengthens prior evidence that cognitive exercises can boost brain health, though she said it first needs replication in geographically and ethnically diverse groups
- Andrea Castegnaro of University College London noted that amyloid-clearing drugs like lecanemab only marginally slow cognitive decline because they're administered late, after substantial damage; intervening with cognitive training before damage accumulates could have a larger effect
Why it matters: This is the first evidence that a behavioral intervention — not a drug — can shift a core Alzheimer's biomarker, opening a low-cost, non-pharmaceutical prevention route. The complete absence of effect in women in the 13-person male / 40-person female sample means dementia prevention strategies may need to be sex-specific, a finding the researchers themselves flagged for follow-up.
