According to the US researchers, a decade before developing Alzheimer’s there was shrinkage seen in the brain, according to the brain scans of healthy people.

Across the globe, the number of people affected with Alzheimer’s is 26 million and these finding mean better treatment for people who are suffering from the brain-wasting disease.

Leyla deToledo-Morrell of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who worked on the study, said, “The magnetic resonance measurements could be very important indicators to help identify who may be at risk of developing Alzheimer's dementia. If a drug therapy or treatment is developed in the future, those who are still without symptoms but at great risk would benefit the most from treatment.”

The study that spanned across nine years took two groups of people and their brain scans were taken at Rush University in Chicago and at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston. All the participants were in their 70s and were completely healthy.

Alzheimer’s was developed by about 15 participants during the study and about 50 participants had remained completely normal.

The chances of developing Alzheimer’s were about three times more among people who had witnessed highest amount of shrinkage in specific areas of the cerebral cortex.