According to a new study, healthy aging of the brain relies a great deal on the health of your heart and blood vessels during middle age. Smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol all contribute to the health of a person’s blood vessels and vascular system, leading to hardening of the arteries and other disorders. These same factors are present in the elderly with high levels of a protein called amyloid, which is known to clump together in the brains of... [read more]