Research papers published this week suggest that dementia may be delayed or prevented by lifestyle choices earlier in life to avoid or treat heart attacks, strokes, depression or venereal diseases. Risk for dementia may possibly be increased by certain drugs that physicians prescribe to treat anxiety.
The authors of one article state that more than 50 percent of the cases of Alzheimer’s disease are associated with, and may probably be prevented or delayed by reducing, heart attack risk factors and depression. Dementia is strongly associated with diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, physical inactivity, depression or smoking. The authors speculate that perhaps a major cause of dementia in North America is lack of exercise.
Venereal Diseases Linked to Dementia
In another report that reviewed 25 studies, the authors found that people suffering from dementia are ten times more likely to be infected with syphilis and five times more likely to suffer from chlamydia, compared to people without dementia. In 1913, Hideyo Noguchi and J. W. Moore found the bacterium that causes syphilis in the brains of people who died with dementia. Since 1998, many reports have found chlamydia in the brains of people who died with dementia.
Alzheimer’s Disease and Strokes
Another team of authors reviewed nine studies on the association between strokes and Alzheimer’s disease published between 1975 and 2013, and found that people who have had strokes have a 160 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Anti-Anxiety Drugs and Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease
Benzodiazepine drugs to treat anxiety have been associated with increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and the higher the dose and the longer the drug is taken, the greater the chances of suffering from dementia. However, this is only an association; it does not prove that these drugs cause dementia. Benzodiazepines include: alprazolam (brand name Xanax), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), clonazepam (Klonopin), clorazepate (Tranxene), diazepam (Valium), estazolam (Prosom), flurazepam (Dalmane), lorazepam (Ativan), midazolam (Versed), oxazepam (Serax), temazepam (Restoril), triazolam (Halcion), quazepam (Doral).
This article was originally published on www.drmirkin.com. Subscribe to their free weekly Fitness & Health newsletter.
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