A method for increasing sensitivity and/or specificity of a magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging technique for detecting a neurodegenerative disease is provided. The method includes acquiring magnetic resonance spectroscopy data from the brain of a subject, while suppressing certain metabolites in the spectrum via a data acquisition protocol, to improve quantification accuracy for the remaining metabolites, and quantifying a metabolite concentration or a metabolite concentration ratio from the spectral data as an indicator of the neurodegenerative disease.