Scientists at Rutgers Health are pioneering a nutrition-based strategy to combat Alzheimer’s disease, focusing on a specific healthy fat that may help the brain “heal itself.”
The clinical trial, led by the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, explores whether daily supplementation of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)—an omega-3 fatty acid found in flaxseeds, walnuts, and canola oil—can improve memory and repair the brain’s protective systems in high-risk older adults.
The study specifically recruits adults aged 60 and older who carry the APOE4 gene, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s. Currently, APOE4 carriers not only face a higher likelihood of dementia but also tend to suffer more severe side effects from existing FDA-approved Alzheimer’s drugs.
“Identifying treatments that can help maintain brain health while minimizing adverse effects in this high-risk population is critical,” Michal Schnaider Beeri, director of the Herbert and Jacqueline Krieger Klein Alzheimer’s Research Center at Rutgers said.
ALA is unique because the human body can convert it into docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a fat essential for brain structure. While many people take DHA supplements directly, APOE4 carriers often have trouble transporting that DHA across the blood-brain barrier (BBB)—the “filter” that protects the brain.
By providing ALA, researchers hope to bypass this transport issue, encouraging the brain to produce its own DHA locally while simultaneously strengthening the blood vessels that supply the brain with oxygen and nutrients.
Study Goals and Metrics:
- Memory & Thinking: Measuring improvements in executive function and global cognition.
- Vascular Health: Using advanced imaging to check the integrity of the blood-brain barrier and cerebral blood flow.
- Biomarkers: Analyzing blood tests for signs of neurodegeneration and vessel health.
The move to human testing follows highly successful results in laboratory mice engineered with the human APOE4 gene. In those studies, ALA supplementation led to significant memory recovery and a noticeable “sealing” of leaks in the blood-brain barrier.
“We are looking for safe, affordable strategies that may help protect the brain earlier, before dementia develops,” noted Beeri.
The six-month trial is being conducted in collaboration with the Rutgers Clinical Research Center and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. If successful, this study will pave the way for a massive, multi-site trial that could establish ALA as a standard, low-cost preventive measure for those at high genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.
