dementia
© geralt/PixabayIn 2015, the brain disorder overtook heart disease and stroke as Britain's biggest cause of death
A study published by the University of Glasgow shows that preventing high blood pressure, diabetes or coronary heart disease (CHD) may delay cognitive decline and even dementia.

The study

Researchers found that people who have high blood pressure, diabetes, or CHD perform worse on mental tasks of reasoning, memory and reaction time. Authors also highlight that:
...having two diseases was worse and three worse still, particularly for reaction times and reasoning.
Previous research has made the link between these diseases and cognitive decline. But the effect of having more than one disease on cognitive skills had not been properly examined until now.

The implications of this study are far-reaching. After all, multi-morbidity (where people are living with more than one chronic disease) is common. 6.75 million people in the UK have more than one long-term condition.

The mind-body link

The study also increases our understanding of how closely linked bodily health is to mental health. As previously reported in The Canary, the immune system may play a crucial role in long-term anxiety.

These new findings mean that special and close attention must be paid to physical health, if greatly feared brain disorders like dementia are to be tackled effectively.

This intimate mind-body link has been clarified in many other areas. For example, research suggests that gut bacteria may be connected to autism, anxiety and depression.


Comment: Pay attention to your body's 'second brain' - the gut:

Other research also points to a link between gut bacteria and the development of Alzheimer's disease, which can lead to dementia.

There will be over a million people living with dementia in the UK by 2025. In order to tackle this horrible affliction it is important to shift our attention to aspects of the body - such as gut bacteria and the heart - that we have the power to improve. For example, there are many different foods that help to cultivate a healthy gut.

A new approach to preventing dementia

Dr Donald Lyall, one of the University of Glasgow scientists, said:
Our findings highlight the potential to protect against cognitive decline by addressing other conditions such as heart disease.
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) suggests many ways to improve heart health. But let's focus on diet. It can be controversial to recommend a single diet for heart health. Research illustrates, however, that increasing dietary fibre intake is associated with a lower risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and CHD. And the best sources of dietary fibre come from fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts and grains.


Comment: In contrast other research suggests the recommendation above is incorrect, read the following article for more insight:
Yet the American Heart Association (AHA), in its most recent dietary guidelines, held fast to the idea that we must all eat low-fat diets for optimal heart health. It's a stance that - at the very best - is controversial, and at worst is dead wrong. As a practicing cardiologist for more than three decades, I agree with the latter - it's dead wrong.

Why does the AHA cling to recommendations that fly in the face of scientific evidence?

What I discovered was both eye-opening and disturbing. The AHA not only ignored all the other risk factors for heart disease, but it appointed someone with ties to Big Food and bizarre scientific beliefs to lead the guideline-writing panel - just the type of thing that undermines the public's confidence in the medical community...
In fact, most people who have heart attacks don't have elevations in bad cholesterol. They are much more likely to have metabolic syndrome - a condition that puts you at high risk for diabetes and heart disease. Metabolic syndrome is defined when you have three of the following: high triglycerides (blood fats), high blood sugar, high blood pressure, low "good" cholesterol (HDL-C), and a large abdomen measurement (abdominal obesity).

Interestingly enough, blood triglycerides do not go up with eating fat - they go up if you eat a diet high in processed grains, starches, and sugar. Unfortunately for the proponents of high-carbohydrate diets, high blood triglycerides are a major risk factor for heart disease. In addition, low fat/high carb diets lower protective "good" cholesterol and raise insulin. These diets are implicated in the development of diabetes, which is a potent risk factor for developing heart disease.

With projections of increasing numbers of people suffering from dementia, a new understanding of the mind-body link offers hope for prevention. And so, in the future, we could see much greater importance placed on gut and heart health.