They say the eyes are the windows to the soul, but they may also be windows to the brain.
Researchers at Rutgers have been looking for early indicators of cognitive decline. One involves an amino acid, homocysteine. The other concerns changes in tiny blood vessels in the white of the eye. Josh Miller, chair of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, is leading the study.
“What we’re hoping to do is to use this look in at the white of the eye as well as blood biomarkers like homocysteine and be able to predict early on in older adults before they get significant cognitive impairment that they might be at risk,” he said.
“We have found that impaired people have higher homocysteine which is consistent with what has been shown now for a few decades,” he said. “We also have found that the homocysteine is correlated with the abnormalities in the white of the eye and then the abnormalities in the white of the eye are correlated with abnormalities in the brain.”
Homocysteine is an amino acid. High levels have been linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Miller said people with high homocysteine should take vitamins B6 and 12, but more study is needed to determine whether doing that reduces one’s risk of getting Alzheimer’s.
The researchers say that identifying these risk factors can give older people more ways to protect their cognitive health.
“We want to try and catch people early so we can intervene,” said Miller. “Interventions could be drugs but in our research we’re more interested in nutrition — improving your diet, helping you lose extra weight, preventing diabetes.”
Previous research has shown that unusual blood vessels in the eye are common in people with high blood pressure, diabetes, and sickle cell disease.