Having a healthy heart can help stave off dementia, say scientists

Having a healthy heart can provide cognitive benefits in older people and can help delay the onset of dementia, according to new research.

Researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London investigated 542 older adults and measured the stiffness of their aorta, the body’s largest artery at the age of 64 and 68. They also carried out cognitive tests and MRI scans of the size, connections and blood supply of different regions of the brain.

The study found that faster aortic stiffening in mid-life to older age was linked to markers of poorer brain health, such as lower brain blood supply, reduced structural connectivity between different brain regions and worse memory.

Dr Sana Suri, Alzheimer’s Society research fellow at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, said: “Our study links heart health with brain health, and gives us insights into the potential of reducing aortic stiffening to help maintain brain health in older ages.

“Reduced connectivity between different brain regions is an early marker of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, and preventing these changes by reducing or slowing down the stiffening of our body's large blood vessels may be one way to maintain brain health and memory as we grow older.”

He added: “This study shows the importance of studying the brain in conjunction with other organ systems. Arteries stiffen faster if someone has pre-existing heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes and other vascular diseases.”

Stiffening of the arteries can be reduced by changing your diet and exercising.

Dr Scott Chiesa, research associate at the UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science, added: “With no cure for dementia, there is an increased focus on understanding how to prevent or delay its onset. Importantly, our study helps us understand when in the lifespan it will be best to target and improve cardiovascular health to benefit the brain.”

Dr Richard Oakley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Society, which funded the study, said: “Dementia devastates lives, and with the number of people with dementia set to rise to 1 million by 2025 and more families affected than ever before, reducing our risk has never been more important.

“This Alzheimer’s Society funded study didn’t look for a link between heart health and dementia directly, but it has shed important light on a connection between the health of our blood vessels and changes in the brain that indicate brain health.”

Participants were predominantly white males and were selected if they had no clinical diagnosis of dementia. Further research in diverse samples and people with more advanced cognitive deficits will be needed to confirm these findings in a wider population.

The Whitehall II Study and the Whitehall II Imaging Sub-study are funded by grants from the UK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, and US National Institute on Aging.

To see the full paper, Associations between arterial stiffening and brain structure, perfusion and cognition in the Whitehall II Imaging Sub-study: A retrospective cohort study, go to journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003467