Aging Brains Have a Sugar Problem – And Stanford Scientists May Have Found a Fix
Aging depletes the brain’s protective sugar shield, weakening defenses and fueling cognitive decline, but restoring key sugars may reverse these effects.
What if a critical piece of the puzzle of brain aging has been hiding in plain sight? While neuroscience has traditionally focused on proteins and DNA, a team of Stanford researchers dared to shift their focus to sugars—specifically, the complex sugar chains that coat our cells like chain mail.
Their investigation uncovered how changes in this sugary armor on the brain’s frontline cells could be crucial to understanding cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s.