Exercise DOES Lower Alzheimer's Risk:

Exercise does lower your risk of Alzheimer's, scientists claim after finding a link between poor heart health and memory issues. 

A new study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center found older people whose hearts pump less blood have restricted blood flow in the temporal lobe, the region where dementia pathology first begins.

Those with the worst fitness and heart health had brains that appeared 20 years older than they should be. Experts warn the findings should be a red flag to everybody to exercise at least 30 minutes five times a week to improve their chances of avoiding the crippling neuro degenerative disease.  

We currently know a lot about how to prevent and medically manage many forms of heart disease, but we do not yet know how to prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease,' said lead author Dr Angela Jefferson, director of the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer's Center. 

'This research is especially important because it may help us leverage our knowledge about managing heart health to address and treat risk factors for memory loss in older adults before cognitive symptoms develop.'

The study, published online today in Neurology, involved 314 people with an average age of 73 who were all part of the Vanderbilt Memory & Aging Project, a longitudinal study that will continue to track their health and cognitive abilities.Around a third (39 percent) had mild cognitive impairment, which increases the risk of Alzheimer's.The rest had normal cognitive function.

The researchers used echocardiography to measure their heart blood flow, and MRI scanning to see how much and how freely blood was flowing to the brain.  They found poor heart health could age the brain by up to 20 years

One way to put these results into a meaningful context is to define how one year of aging relates to blood flow in the brain,' Dr Jefferson said.

 

'Then, we compare the effect of one year of aging to the effect of lower cardiac index. When we do that, we find that the effect of cardiac index on blood flow in the temporal lobes corresponds to 15 to 20 years of age.' Dr Jefferson said the study suggests that as we age we need to do more to aid blood flow in the brain, and the more exercise we do the lower our dementia risk appears to be.

'It is now clear from a growing body of research evidence that there is a strong connection between heart health and brain health,' said Dr Maria Carrillo, Alzheimer's Association Chief Science Officer.

'We are pleased to have provided the initial seed funding for this intriguing science that is beginning to identify and investigate the mechanisms behind that connection. 'Those mechanisms, once confirmed, may hold the key to effective treatments and prevention strategies for Alzheimer's disease and other dementia's.'(Daily Mail Health)