According to research published in the latest issue of Neurology, any type of injection from a cold to a stomach bug may lead to faster memory loss with Alzheimer's disease.

The study found that people who had gastrointestinal infections, respiratory infections, and even just bumps and bruises had higher levels of a protein (tumor necrosis factor-alpha) that is involved in the inflammatory process. The higher levels of the protein were linked to more memory loss or types of functional loss than when the protein levels were at a normal or low rate.

The study followed 222 patients with Alzheimer's disease over a six month period of time. A total of 110 people experienced some sort of infection or injury over that period of time and ended up with twice the rate of memory loss than those who had no infections or injuries. People that had higher rates of the protein at the beginning of the study suffered four times the amount of memory loss than with the people with low levels.

According to Clive Holmes, MRCPsych, PhD, who was the author of the study, more research needs to be done on this protein, but "but it's possible that finding a way to reduce those levels could be beneficial for people with Alzheimer's disease."

Source: American Academy of Neurology