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Some people with dementia, especially one type, may commit crimes as a result of their disease, a new study finds. This happens most often in people with a subtype of frontotemporal dementia, the study found. The new study was based on records from nearly 2,400 people. They included 545 with Alzheimer’s disease. Another 171 had a form of frontotemporal dementia in which people lose their normal impulse control. About 37% of this smaller group had committed crimes. They included theft, traffic violations, trespassing and sexual offenses. About 8% of those with Alzheimer’s had committed crimes. Researchers said the crimes are not intentional. They are caused by the brain disease. For 14 of those with frontotemporal dementia, the crimes were the first sign of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease first affects areas of the brain that deal with memory.

Eating avocados may help improve cholesterol levels, a small study suggests. The study included 45 overweight or obese adults. For 2 weeks, everyone ate an assigned “average American diet.” Then they ate 3 other diets, one after the other, for 5 weeks each. Which diet each person followed first was randomly chosen. The low-fat diet contained about 24% fat. Another diet contained about 34% fat. This included one small Hass-type avocado each day. The third diet was similar. However, it contained other plant fats to replace the avocado. These plant fats replaced some of the saturated fat in the “American” diet. After people completed each diet, researchers tested their blood cholesterol levels. After the avocado diet, LDL (“bad cholesterol”) dropped 10%. LDL dropped 5.8% with the moderate-fat, no-avocado diet and 5.3% with the low-fat diet.