Are you one of those people who loves eating walnuts at Christmas but then seldom buys them throughout the year? I currently have a packet of them in my cupboard “just in case” I feel like making a date and walnut or coffee and walnut cake and just occasionally I fancy a smattering on my cornflakes if I haven’t got any of the honey nut variety to hand.

Two new scientific articles offer outside-the-box ideas on how Alzheimer’s disease may begin and what those ideas might mean in terms of finding a cure. It has been known for a long time that both cholesterol abnormalities and inflammatory reactions in the brain are common in the Alzheimer’s disease brains. Now, scientists from Loma Linda University and from the University of Zurich have proposed models of neurodegeneration in which either cholesterol abnormalities or inflammation may explain why and how people may develop Alzheimer’s disease.