Researchers can predict when a person will develop dementia by looking at brain proteins

Researchers at Washington University, Missouri, say they can now closely predict when a person who is likely to develop Alzheimer’s will start showing symptoms of dementia by looking at build-ups of a certain protein in the brain.

The scientists used an algorithm that utilised PET scan data of specific levels of the amyloid beta protein to estimate when the individual may start showing signs of the disease.

The amyloid beta protein often builds up in the brain of those who develop Alzheimer’s for some 20 years before a “tipping point” is reached.