From the CBC:
Oct 13, 2011
Bilingualism may buffer against Alzheimer'sBilingualism may delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, a brain scanning study suggests.
The study by Canadian researchers in the journal Cortex offers the first physical evidence that speaking more than one language delays the onset of disease.
In the study, researchers studied CT scans of 40 people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. They all had similar levels of education and cognitive skills, such as attention, memory and planning. Half were fluently bilingual and the other half spoke only one language.
"Bilingualism appears to contribute to increased cognitive reserve, thereby delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease and requiring the presence of greater amounts of neuropathology before the disease is manifest," the study's authors wrote.
But bilingualism does not prevent Alzheimer's, said Tom Schweizer, a neuroscientist who headed the research at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto....
Read the rest of this fascinating article here.
Obviously, a study sample of 40 is not large enough to draw definitive conclusions, but interesting research nevertheless. Oui?
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