New research suggests having a big brain may protect you from the memory-stealing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, even if you have the brain plaques associated with the disease.

When dementia patients like 65-year old Janis Elliot come to Dr. Deniz Erten-Lyons of Oregon Health and Science University,, concerns go beyond memory loss.

"The disorientation, and the confusion, and of course the fear. There's an element of fear."

The causes of dementia and Alzheimer's disease are unclear. It's thought plaques in the brain cause Alzheimer's. But Erten-Lyons says they don't affect everyone the same way.

Erten-Lyons says, "They are somehow resistant to brain cell damage and loss of brain cells that has usually been attributed to the presence of these plaques."

She and her colleagues studied the brains of deceased people with these brain plaques. They found the sharp seniors had bigger brains. In particular they had a larger hippocampus, the region associated with memory.

New research suggests having a big brain may protect you from the memory-stealing symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, even if you have the brain plaques associated with the disease. When dementia patients like 65-year old Janis Elliot come to Dr. Deniz Erten-Lyons of Oregon Health and Science University,, concerns go beyond memory loss.
Erten-Lyons says, "Individuals who died with sharp minds but had lots of tangles and plaques in their brain seemed to be resistant to the effects of the plaques and the tangles and to dementia because they had larger brains."

She says it's not necessarily the size of the brain you're born with that matters. Maintaining brain size into old age may be more important, and genetics may also play a role.