Khaberni - A recent study concluded that weight gain and obesity are not only related to vascular dementia but may also have a direct role in increasing it, especially through their effects on blood pressure and blood vessels in the brain.
How does the study link weight to dementia?
The study was conducted at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, where researchers used Mendelian Randomization - a technique that simulates clinical trials - to study the relationship between obesity (body mass index) and the risk of vascular dementia.
The results – published by the Medical News Today website – show that an increase in body mass index enhances the risk of vascular dementia, partly through high blood pressure and its effect on the brain's blood vessels.
What is vascular dementia?
Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's and occurs when the blood vessels in the brain are damaged or blocked, reducing blood and oxygen flow to nerve tissues, which affects memory, thinking, and behavior.
Obesity and Blood Pressure
The team clarified that high blood pressure is an important mediator in the relationship between obesity and vascular dementia:
Systolic pressure contributes about 18% of the overall effect.
Diastolic pressure contributes about 25%.
This indicates that high blood pressure resulting from obesity causes damage to brain vessels, potentially leading to vascular dementia later.
Why is this discovery important?
Dr. Ruth Frick-Schmidt, the author of the study and a specialist in clinical medicine at the University of Copenhagen, said, "Our results show that obesity and high blood pressure are direct factors in increasing the risk of vascular dementia, making them modifiable targets for community-level prevention."
Another doctor involved in the evaluation explained that using genetic analysis reduced biases that limited previous studies, making the results closer to causal evidence.
Obesity and Brain Health
One of the key findings is that controlling weight and blood pressure, especially in midlife, could be a practical preventive strategy to reduce the risk of vascular dementia later in life.
According to experts not involved in the study, these findings support the idea that vascular health is brain health, and early intervention to modify risk factors like high weight can reduce the future burden of dementia.
Who does this research apply to?
Despite the strength of the results, the researchers note that the study only included people of European descent, which may limit the generalization of the findings to all populations globally.
There are also challenges in accurately identifying types of dementia in the databases used, issues that require further studies to confirm the results.
