CHENNAI: If Suresh Kalmadi truly has dementia, only one thing can be blamed for this – his lifestyle. Years of study has established that people who have lifestyle issues may be at risk for brain shrinkage and, hence, mental decline.MedIndia, a health website offering information and services to both healthcare consumers and medical professionals, has quoted a recent report based on the Framingham Heart Study, which has been going on since 1948 on residents of Massachusetts town, to establish that factors like diabetes, smoking, hypertension and obesity increased the risk of brain shrinkage and dementia.The study was published recently in the journal, Nephrology, was carried out on 1,352 people who were, on an average 54 years old. Their risk factors – being overweight, having high cholesterol levels, suffering from diabetes and high BP and smoking – were assessed during their middle-age period.Once the people reached the age group of 61 to 67 years, their brains were scanned using an MRI and a cognitive skill study was carried out on them. The results of the investigation were, in fact, quite revealing. The middle-aged diabetics, smokers and overweight people have lost brain volume or were found to have experienced shrinkage of the brain at a pace much faster compared to people who did not have these factors influencing them.While those suffering from diabetes suffered shrinkage of the hippocampal region of the brain, which is related to memory, smokers and overweight people had shrinkage of the whole brain. Those with high blood pressure had changes in the white matter of the brain or blood vessel damage within the brain. Their decision making ability and planning skills also depleted at a faster rate. Smokers too betrayed changes in the white matter faster than others.MedIndia quoted Charles DeCarli, MD of the University of California-Davis in Sacramento as saying that the findings provided “evidence that identifying these risk factors early in people in middle age could be useful in screening people for dementia and encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyle before it is too late.” In due course, the continuing study hoped to unravel the mechanisms and dynamics involved in the development of dementia.At the end, the study also recommended certain modifications in our lifestyles to minimise the risk factors and reduce chances of developing dementia. Daily dose of exercise and control over food were top in the list, besides engaging in mind-stimulating games and keeping stress away.
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