UW researchers look at gut health and its connection to Alzheimer's disease

MADISON, Wis.  (CBS 58) -- A group of researchers at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health are looking at how your gut is connected to Alzheimer's disease. 

Barbra Bendlin, professor of medicine, led the research in this first of a kind study. 

It showed people with higher levels of an inflammatory marker called calprotectin in their gut, has lower scores on memory tests. 

Doctor Bendlin urges people to try and maintain a healthy gut. 

"We indeed found people with Alzheimer's disease have a gut microbiome composition that looks different from people without Alzheimer's. We also found that what we are seeing in the gut was related to how much brain pathology that we were measuring." 
 said Bendlin. 

Bendlin stresses that having poor gut health does not necessarily mean you will get Alzheimer's. The research team is currently doing more studies to look into it further.