Originally published September 12 2005
Reduced blood flow to brain may cause dementia in elderly, research shows
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dementia in elderly people may be caused in part by reduced blood flow -- and thus reduced oxygen and glucose flow -- to the brain, perhaps as a result of heart failure or other heart problems like a narrowing of brain or neck arteries due to atherosclerosis, according to Dutch researchers.
They believe that a chronic drop in cerebral blood pressure -- resulting in declines in the delivery of oxygen and glucose vital to brain functioning -- causes brain damage that can trigger the onset of dementia, whether it be linked to Alzheimer's disease or other causes.
"I think it's surprising, but we see more and more evidence for the fact that blood flow is more important in the developing of dementia in older men and women than was previously thought," said study author Dr. Aart Spilt, of the department of radiology at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands.
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dementia refers to a broad range of intellectual impairments involving memory, problem-solving, emotional control and the overall ability to think and reason.
In their study, Spilt and his colleagues focused on a group of 17 elderly Dutch patients all diagnosed with Alzheimer's-related dementia.
Results were compared with similar tests conducted among a group of 16 elderly men and women of similar age without dementia.
A third group of 15 healthy young men and women (averaging 29 years of age) was also tested.
When looking solely at the elderly patients, however, those suffering from dementia demonstrated significantly greater structural brain damage and significantly lower brain blood flow than the healthy patients.
Based on these findings, the Dutch team say late-onset dementia shows clear associations with both structural brain damage and decreased cerebral blood flow.
"So we think the most important point is that besides hypertension -- which is very important to regulate -- its also important to look at hypotension [low blood pressure], to see if elderly people with low blood pressure are at risk for dementia," Spilt said.
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