[ad_1]
They are among our most devastating killers: heart disease and dementia. And now, the amazing new data provided by the world's leading experts suggests that these two diseases, which weigh on the lives of millions of Britons, are inextricably linked.
Doctors suspect well-known cardiovascular risk factors – unhealthy diet, obesity and conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes – not only damage the heart, but also cause havoc on tiny blood vessels and delicate foods that feed the brain. The implications are profound and could completely transform how the two conditions are treated in a generation. In short, this means that each of us can reduce our risk of dementia simply by taking steps to improve our diet and lifestyle.
Professor John Deanfield, a spokesman for the British Heart Foundation, University College Hospital London, explains: "We now know that we can at least delay dementia in many cases, or even the most important thing. to avoid attacking heart disease head-on. "
They are among our most devastating killers: heart disease and dementia. And now, new evidence from the world's leading experts suggests that these two diseases, which affect the lives of millions of Britons, are inextricably linked – much like the father of television presenter Anna Richardson (photographed with her at the 39; adolescence) who has been a victim of a stroke. dementia
The burden of care for patients with dementia is £ 26 billion a year, more than the cost of cancer (£ 9.4 billion) and heart disease (£ 9 billion) combined. But the picture that is emerging is a bearer of hope: we can all take steps to protect ourselves. Here we examine the exciting science that reveals the links between heart health and dementia, which could one day lead to new tests to identify those most at risk well before symptoms begin, and new drugs to stop the worst effects.
IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY TO BEGIN TO TAKE CARE
According to the researchers, the main thing is the state of the heart and circulatory system mid-life – between 40 and 65 years. People whose heart health has deteriorated at this stage are more likely to develop cognitive decline 20 years later. But does a person in their thirties or early 40s really need to worry about "old age" diseases such as heart disease and dementia?
Dr. Laura Corr, consulting cardiologist at Harley Street Clinic, said, "All data show that your health in the middle of your life predicts where you will end up."
The pressure on the arteries can cause their stiffening, blockage by fatty plaques and their narrowing, which restricts blood flow to the tiny and delicate blood vessels of the brain.
Today, scientists believe that at least a third of cases of dementia could be traffic-related and potentially avoidable.
Dr. James Pickett, head of research at the Alzheimer Society, said: "In the absence of new dementia medications for more than 15 years, prevention is essential and evidence suggests that it is important for people to have diabetes. it is necessary to exercise regularly, to follow a healthy and balanced diet, not to smoke and not to maintain blood pressure. in failure can all help reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
In the United Kingdom, 850,000 people have dementia – one person is diagnosed every three minutes – this number is expected to exceed one million by 2025. It is thought that the most common type, Alzheimer's, accounts for 60 to 80% of all cases. case. Professor Roxana Carare, a specialist in brain anatomy at the University of Southampton, said: "A growing number of researchers are no longer using the term Alzheimer's or dementia. We call this a vascular cognitive impairment because we recognize that these problems all come from the blood vessels. "
Anna Richardson: "Dad's lifestyle has caused a major stroke – then dementia"
Anna Richardson, TV presenter
Dad's lifestyle has caused a serious stroke – then deaf television presenter Anna Richardson is doing everything possible to take care of her heart health.
She has witnessed the harm that can be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle, with her father Jim, "tall, charismatic and stubborn" – an Anglican retired chancellor – suffering from dementia after a series of strokes and a heart attack .
Anna said looking back, the risks were clear. "Papa belongs to this generation and loves nothing more than meat, pies, potatoes and bread, with a lot of butter and cream.
"A terrible diet and a very stressful lifestyle were a recipe for disaster. He was a workaholic and went out all the time, taking fries for lunch.
On Friday, he would be exhausted and order a Chinese takeaway, then go to the pub on Sunday with his parishioners. & # 39;
Jim, 78, was living alone in Dorset in 2014 after suffering several mini-strokes, a heart attack, and then a major stroke in the space of a few months.
Doctors later diagnosed vascular dementia. Caused by blood vessels blocked in the brain, it can be linked to high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking or being overweight.
It is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease and affects more than 135,000 Britons. There is no curative treatment, although some treatments may slow the progression.
Anna is photographed with her father in adolescence
Recently, Jim had another small stroke and Anna, 48, who has two brothers, said, "We are worried about worry. My younger brother and I both have high cholesterol.
"We all had to watch as dad became very sick, which, I am convinced, is due to poor lifestyle choices."
Anna – whose partner is TV star Sue Perkins – regularly hikes in the mountains with her rescue dog and practices meditation to reduce stress. As for her diet, she does not pretend to be a saint.
"I am a vegetarian and I would say that I can feed my body well," she says.
'But it's probably 70/30 good and bad. Last night I was drinking amaretto and eating a sticky caramel pudding, but it was a Saturday night. "
KEEP LOW BLOOD PRESSURE
One of the most important studies on dementia ever published suggests that a reduction in blood pressure significantly reduces the risk of brain disease. The SPRINT-MIND study, reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Chicago last July, tracked nearly 10,000 patients with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, over a three-year period.
It was found that those who reduced it to healthy levels had a lower risk of mild cognitive impairment – memory problems – and dementia.
Arterial hypertension exerts more force on the artery walls, making them more rigid and less flexible. It is therefore difficult for the oxygen-rich blood to circulate freely in the small blood vessels of the brain. Scientists believe that this could deprive brain cells of the nutrients they need and increase the risk of mini-stroke, both of which could lead to dementia. Even more interesting are the suggestions that early doctors treated high blood pressure, the better the chances of avoiding dementia. Jonathan Schott, a professor of neurology at the Dementia Research Center at the UCL Institute of Neurology, said, "The middle of life seems to be the most important time to control blood pressure – not only to reduce heart disease and stroke, but also dementia. "
Funded by the BHF, Alzheimer's Research UK and the Medical Research Council, Professor Schott and his team are in the final stages of a major study involving hundreds of British men and women born in the same week in 1946 and whose blood pressure was monitored as early as the age of 30. . The results, to be released later this year, will reveal the effects of mid-life blood pressure on brain health 40 years later.
GP urged me to run to keep my brain disease at bay
For Sue Strachan, the diagnosis of dementia in her fifties was devastating. The 63-year-old former Sales Representative admits that "it was a punch in the stomach" when she was told in 2014 that she had a type caused by a reduction from blood flow to the brain.
Doctors said the disease resulted from ischemia – a narrowing of the arteries reducing blood flow to the frontal lobes. The cause of ischemia has never been determined but it is usually related to cardiovascular disease.
Lifestyle change: Sue Strachan, 63, has transformed her health
Sue's father had a heart attack in his 50s before developing a dementia.
Today, determined to slow the progression of her condition, Sue, left, has transformed her lifestyle. She gave up the glbades of wine mid-week, now eats a healthy and balanced diet and started running, even completing the London Marathon last year. Knowing that she is "doing her best" motivates her to keep her brain – and her heart – as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
Sue, from Herefordshire, said, "At first I dipped my head in the sand, but now I have adopted a healthier lifestyle. My doctor also advised me to run to reduce my cardiovascular risk because of the risk of my arteries being clogged. "
SCAN SPOTS OF DEMENTIA BEFORE THIS
For decades, scientists have been looking for a test that can detect dementia in its infancy. A breakthrough remains elusive but new research is promising. Last November, Professor Deanfield's group at UCL developed a method to measure the intensity of circulating blood flow in the carotid artery, which carries blood from the brain to the brain.
When done mid-life, plain ultrasound identified people at risk for cognitive decline, including language and memory. If the carotid artery is healthy, it is elastic and flexible and cushions the physical pulse that comes from the heart when it beats. This process protects the deeper delicate blood vessels in the brain.
But age and problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes stiffen the arterial walls.
The pulse of the heart is no longer amortized and the intensity of blood flow, called pulsatility, increases and causes lesions over time to brain cells.
The team studied the badyzes of more than 3,000 mid-life employees and followed them for 15 years to measure their cognitive abilities. People with the most intense blood flow – and therefore potentially the stiffest arteries – were 50% more likely to suffer a cognitive decline than those with the least intense pulse.
The test could be used to identify people at risk for heart disease and dementia who could benefit from preventive medications.
"This test could potentially help detect cognitive decline in middle-aged adults well before the actual symptoms," says Dr. Scott Chiesa, of the UCL's Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences.
CAN STATINS BE THE RESPONSE?
Millions of Britons seize statins to reduce their risk of heart disease and heart attack. But could similar drugs be used to protect the brain from the ravages of dementia?
The answer may be yes.
Atherosclerosis is a key factor in the progression of heart disease. Indeed, the arteries ignite and clog up with fat called plaques, or atheroma.
These plaques cause hardening and narrowing of the arteries, limiting blood flow and oxygen delivery, and increasing the risk of clot formation that may block blood flow to the heart or brain.
Atherosclerosis has few symptoms and many people do not know it. Statins are thought to lower cholesterol levels in the blood, which play a key role in the formation of atheroma and can also curb artery inflammation.
Research suggests that such brain inflammation could be linked to dementia cases and a study funded by Alzheimer's Research UK seeks to determine whether blocking chemical pathways leading to inflammation can reduce the risk of decline cognitive. The goal is to find potential treatments – which could prove to be similar to those already used to treat heart disease.
Dr. Patrick Strangward, from the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health in Manchester, said: "The inflammatory processes that occur in the blood vessels of the heart also occur in the brain.Treatments that protect against cardiovascular disease are also likely to contribute to the prevention of vascular dementia. "
NEW DRUGS ARRIVE
Since 2002, more than 100 promising drugs to treat Alzheimer's have been put into clinical trials. Everyone failed. The main problem is that the brain changes that cause it occur decades before the symptoms manifest themselves.
Now, with a better understanding of the vascular causes of dementia, new drugs for people at risk but not necessarily having symptoms can be close.
Southampton scientists are studying the possibility of fighting dementia by improving the vascular "elimination system" of the brain.
When cells – including brain cells – do their job, consume or produce energy, they produce waste. These are removed by very thin channels – a millionth of the thickness of a human hair – in the walls of blood vessels. The Southampton team is investigating whether damage to the blood vessels prevents the brain from properly disposing of waste.
Dr. Strangward believes that diet and lifestyle are essential to prevention – and that patients should not rely solely on drugs. "Once the structural changes have occurred, like the narrowing of the brain, they can no longer be recovered.
"But we are better at detecting subtle changes in cognition, so we can offer treatments much sooner."
Source link
