Not a day goes by without me thinking about Alzheimer’s: It’s what claimed my grandmother’s life; I wear a purple wristband around my left wrist engraved with the words MINDStrong as a reminder; and I write about it whenever news on the advancement in its cure makes headlines. The latest headline is in regards to a possible blood test that could potentially identify incriminating molecules associated with Alzheimer’s…before its debilitating effects take hold of the mind and body.

If such a test is possible, this has huge implications for families, particularly those families with a history of Alzheimer’s. By being able to identify Alzheimer’s early, families can start using some of the medications that slow the advancement of the disease, or take other proactive measures that can help forestall its progression. This is essentially what the researchers hope to be able to accomplish with this test.

“A reliable, accurate test to identify affected individuals would mean future treatments could be given much earlier when drugs are likely to be most effective,” said Professor Kevin Morgan, one of the lead researchers in the study that hopes to identify just such a test.

Morgan teams with fellow colleagues of his from the University of Nottingham’s School of Molecular Medical Sciences based in England, and the study is funded by Alzheimer’s research organizations like the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, also based in England. The funding amounts to some 200,000 pounds or about $346,200 in American dollars.

What the researchers hope to find in the blood samples of those with Alzheimer’s are proteins or molecules they refer to as “biomarkers,” basically molecules or proteins that are present in the Alzheimer’s patients’ blood, but absent in those without Alzheimer’s.

The announcement of this study was made in September 2008. Meanwhile, the Mayo Clinic will be issuing a report in a special October supplement that highlights how researchers are focusing their attention on specific health factors they believe contribute to Alzheimer’s, and as such, could hold the clues for its cure. These include diet, exercise, anti-inflammatory drugs, mental activity (how active one keeps their brain through mental exercises) and the hormone estrogen. For diet, researchers believe that limiting cholesterol intake, eating foods high in omega 3s and regularly consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (particularly those high in polyphenol content, like berries, tomatoes, grapes and pomegranates) may at the very least delay the onset of Alzheimer’s. The same goes for exercise, as researchers say that regular exercise appears to be linked with increased activity in the brain, thereby decreasing the risk of Alzheimer’s. These are just a few of the things discussed in the soon-to-be-released report on Alzheimer’s by the Mayo Clinic.

As far as the scientific world has come already, combined with the possibility of a blood test that could identify Alzheimer’s early on, I have very high hopes that a cure for Alzheimer’s has never been more of a reality than it is today. It’s hard to say how close we are to a cure, but I believe the advancements in knowledge about Alzheimer’s could prove it will be discovered sooner rather than later.