
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 6, 1993                   TAG: 9305060130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A18   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LINK FOUND IN EDUCATION, BRAIN HEALTH

Seven studies done all over the world show that the more education a person has, the less likely he or she is to suffer from Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

The most dramatic result appeared in a study of more than 5,000 Shanghai residents 55 to 75 years old. All other factors being equal except learning, those with no education had twice the risk of being demented as those with elementary or middle-school education.

The finding, as well as those of the other studies, has profound social, biological and medical implications, wrote Dr. Robert Katzman of the University of California at San Diego, in the science journal Neurology.

The growing understanding of how easily experience can physically change the brain provides the biological underpinning for learning activities that people can undertake to protect their brains, scientists say.

by CNB