What are the factors that accelerate brain aging? The question has obsessed longevity researchers for several decades now. A large-scale study, begun in 1995 and recently published by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (in the United States), has now provided new answers.
Mild cognitive impairment, a first step towards Alzheimer’s disease
Initiated in the mid-1990s, this work followed a group of 185 volunteers, aged 55 on average at the start of the study, for around twenty years. They regularly underwent MRI exams as well as samples of their cerebrospinal fluid.
By studying the medical data thus collected, researchers discovered that people who had atrophy of their white matter (a particular tissue of the central nervous system) had an approximately 86% higher risk of developing mild cognitive impairment – with memory and thinking problems.
Prevent type 2 diabetes to preserve your brain as long as possible
More interesting no doubt: compared to non-sick people, people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) had a greater risk of approximately 46% of developing this same mild cognitive deficit. And the presence of Aβ42 and Aβ40 proteins in their cerebrospinal fluid increased this risk to 55% – with, as a consequence, an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer’s, etc.).
To preserve the efficiency of your brain for as long as possible (and thus delay brain aging), It is therefore imperative to prevent type 2 diabetes. For this, Science makes common sense recommendations: you must adopt a healthy and balanced diet (for example: a Mediterranean diet) and practice regular physical activity (Nordic walking, weight training, yoga, etc.). Not so complicated!
Source : Neurology
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