Pop quiz: Which of the following causes the brain to shrink?
1) diabetes
2) smoking
3) high blood pressure
4) being overweight in middle age?
Answer: All four. That’s the latest word from the famous Framingham Heart Study, an investigation of residents of a Massachusetts town that’s been going on since 1948.
This particular report, published in the journal Neurology, tracked 1,352 people with an average age of 54 for years. All were offspring of the original set of Framingham residents who agreed to join the study. They had their risk factors assessed at mid-life. Then, between ages 61 and 67, their brain structure was assessed via MRI scanning. They also had cognitive tests. http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-obesity-smoking-shrinks-brain-20110801,0,6012036.story?track=rss
Article courtesy of The Los Angeles Times by Rosie Mestel/for the Booster Shots Blog
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