Tue Aug 2, 2011 12:18PM GMT
Middle-aged individuals who smoke, are overweight, and have risk factors such as uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure are at a higher risk of experiencing brain shrinkage.
Researchers from the University of California, Davis studied 1,352 people who were in their 50s and 60s to study any associations between certain risk factors and age-related mental decline.
The findings showed that those with high blood pressure levels were at a greater risk of developing a condition known as white matter change in brain or having small areas of blood vessel damage. This group also experienced a more rapid worsening of test scores in planning and decision-making.
According to the brain images, diabetics experienced brain shrinkage in a region known as the hippocampus faster than those without the disease. Smokers, similarly, lost their brain volume overall and in the hippocampus faster than nonsmokers, with a more rapid increase noted in small areas of vascular brain damage, said the report published in the journal Neurology.
The obese people were more likely to be in the top 25 percent of those experiencing faster decline in tests assessing the executive function of the brain, while those with a high waist-to-hip ratio were more likely to be among the 25 percent with a faster drop in brain volume.
Previous studies have pointed out an association between certain cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking and higher risk of developing dementia.
The new study also confirms the importance of following a healthy lifestyle and being well monitored for chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
"Identifying these risk factors early could be useful in screening people for dementia and encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle before it's too late," said lead researcher Charles DeCarli
"We can't cure disease or cure aging, but the idea of a healthy body, healthy mind is very real," he added. "People should stop smoking, control their blood pressure, avoid diabetes and lose weight. It seems like a no-brainer," he suggested.
SJM/PKH
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