近年来的研究表明“脑组织中的β-淀粉体（beta-amyloid，实为一种蛋白质）随着年龄增大而逐渐增多，一旦大量的β-淀粉体在脑组织中形成团块，即可显著影响脑功能，即老年人特别是痴呆的老年人往往没有中青人那样思维敏捷或称出现了痴呆。因此，欲想避免随着年龄的增大而出现脑功能急剧减退，人们就必须遵循健康的生活方式，特别是经常阅读、思考和完成一些富有挑战性的智力游戏等，这些方法都是最为有效、且非常经济的健脑措施，值得推广啊！

Keeping your brain healthy as you get older may be more fun than you think!

More than five million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, and another person develops it every minute. It's important to take steps early in life to prevent this common disease.

A new study may show us how. Researchers included 65 older people whose minds were still sharp, and compared them to a group of people with Alzheimer's and a group of young adults. The healthy older folks discussed how often they read, wrote letters, went to the library, and played games throughout their lives.

Everyone underwent special brain scans that looked for evidence of beta amyloid. This is a protein that forms clumps in the brain during Alzheimer's. People who kept their brains more active when they were young and middle-aged had less beta-amyloid in their brains. But those who didn't do many brain-stimulating activities had about as much of this buildup in their brains as people with Alzheimer's.

As a result, keeping your brain challenged might slow down or postpone Alzheimer's disease. Inexpensive ways to start include:

• Picking up games that you can play alone or with friends
• Reading a daily newspaper and solving the crossword or Sudoku puzzle
• And visiting the library often

I'm Dr. Cindy Haines of HealthDay TV, with the news that doctors are reading; health news that matters to you