Category: Brain Health

Your blood type might signal whether you are prone to have an early stroke or not.

Besides lifestyle and environment, genes have a big impact on a person’s state of health.

One example is a person’s blood group, which is inherited from genes passed down by the parents.

A meta-analysis of genetic studies reveals that our blood type can determine whether we are at risk of an early stroke or not.

They found that people with blood type A are more at risk of an early stroke.

Also, those with blood type B were more likely to experience a stroke before the age 60 and later on.

The review is based on 48 genetic studies related to ischemic strokes, the most common type of strokes.

Ischemic strokes are life-threatening conditions caused by a blockage of an artery that supplies blood to the brain.

Professor Steven Kittner, the study’s senior author, said:

“The number of people with early strokes is rising.

These people are more likely to die from the life-threatening event, and survivors potentially face decades with disability.

Despite this, there is little research on the causes of early strokes.”

The research team compared genetic data from 17,000 stroke patients with nearly 600,000 healthy adults (non-stroke controls) who were between 18- and 59-years-old.

The team studied the ABO gene located on certain chromosomes in order to find out if there is any link between common genetic variants with the risk of having a stroke before age 60.

Their analysis showed that participants with early stroke were less likely to have blood type O and most likely to have blood type A.

Participants with blood group A were more likely to have an early stroke and those with blood type O had a lower risk of developing strokes.

Those with blood type B were at higher risk of having an early stroke and later in life.

Professor Braxton Mitchell, study co-author, said:

“Our meta-analysis looked at people’s genetic profiles and found associations between blood type and risk of early-onset stroke.

The association of blood type with later-onset stroke was much weaker than what we found with early stroke.”

Compared to people with other blood types, those with blood type A had a 16 percent higher risk of an early stroke.

The authors acknowledged that the increased risk of an early stroke for people with blood type A is small and so they don’t need to worry or do any additional health check and medical tests.

Professor Kittner said:

“We still don’t know why blood type A would confer a higher risk, but it likely has something to do with blood-clotting factors like platelets and cells that line the blood vessels as well as other circulating proteins, all of which play a role in the development of blood clots.”

Past studies have found that people with blood type A are at a slightly increased risk of experiencing deep vein thrombosis.

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Jaworek et al., 2022).

The more people ate, the better their thinking skills over time.

Eating two teaspoons of nuts each day is linked to better memory, thinking and reasoning, research reveals. Those eating a small amount of nuts regularly had 60 percent better cognitive skills than those not eating them, the study found. Nuts contain antioxidants that can help to reduce inflammation, which protects the brain against cognitive decline. The conclusions come from a study that tracked 4,822 people over 55-years-old in China from 1991 to 2006. All were given tests of cognitive function, including memory, thinking and reasoning. The results revealed that 10 grams of nuts per day or higher was linked to a 40 percent reduction in the risk of cognitive decline. The more nuts people ate, the better their thinking skills over time. Dr Ming Li, the study’s author, said:

“By eating more than 10 grams (or two teaspoons) of nuts per day older people could improve their cognitive function by up to 60 per cent — compared to those not eating nuts — effectively warding off what would normally be experienced as a natural two-year cognition decline.”

The nut most people ate in the study was peanuts — 17 percent were regular consumers of them. Dr Li said:

“Nuts are known to be high in healthy fats, protein and fibre with nutritional properties that can lower cholesterol and improve cognitive health. While there is no cure for age-related cognitive decline and neurogenerative disease, variations in what people eat are delivering improvements for older people.”

Aging populations around the world can change their diet to slow down natural decline, Dr Li said:

“As people age, they naturally experience changes to conceptual reasoning, memory, and processing speed. This is all part of the normal ageing process. But age is also the strongest known risk factor for cognitive disease. If we can find ways to help older people retain their cognitive health and independence for longer — even by modifying their diet — then this absolutely worth the effort.”

The study was published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging (Shi, 2018).

Two straightforward indicators of a healthy brain.

People who have a stronger hand grip have healthier brains, research finds.

In both young and old, stronger hand grip is linked to a healthier brain.

People with a stronger grip are less likely to develop brain-related diseases, such as dementia and stroke.

Another sign of good brain health is the ability to walk 100 metres in good time.

People who walk faster have better memories and larger brains.

They also perform better on tests of language and decision-making.

For the study, 2,410 people were given tests of grip strength, walking speed and cognitive function.

Scans examined the health and size of their brains.

They were followed up over more than a decade, during which time 70 people had had a stroke and 34 developed dementia.

Having a stronger hand grip was linked to a 42 percent lower risk of stroke.

Covering 100 metres in good time was associated with a 150 percent reduction in dementia risk.

Dr Erica C. Camargo, the study’s first author, said:

“These are basic office tests which can provide insight into risk of dementia and stroke and can be easily performed by a neurologist or general practitioner.

Further research is needed to understand why this is happening and whether preclinical disease could cause slow walking and decreased strength.”

Other studies have shown that people with greater grip strength have faster reaction times, are better at solving logical puzzles and have improved memories.

The research suggests that weight training may be a way to improve brain health.

It is known that aerobic training improves brain health, but the effect of weight training on the brain has not been fully investigated.

Lifting weights and strength training, though, can help to reduce depression.

Strength training can substantially improve people’s symptoms even for those with moderate depression and those who do not train that often.

Strength training, including weight-lifting, is particularly effective for people who have more severe depression symptoms.

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Camargo et al., 2015).

‘Immense’ boost to memory and thinking skills by investing just one hour a week.

Aerobic workouts can remove five years of brain aging, research finds.

Short workouts done three times a week are enough to roll back the clock on memory and thinking skills, the study demonstrated.

Exercise helps pump more blood to the parts of the brain vital to these functions.

Dr Marc J. Poulin, the study’s first author, said:

“As we all find out eventually, we lose a bit mentally and physically as we age.

But even if you start an exercise program later in life, the benefit to your brain may be immense.

Sure, aerobic exercise gets blood moving through your body.

As our study found, it may also get blood moving to your brain, particularly in areas responsible for verbal fluency and executive functions.

Our finding may be important, especially for older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias and brain disease.”

The study included 206 adults with an average of age of 66 who did little exercise.

They started doing aerobic workouts of between between 20 and 40 minutes per day, three times a week.

After six months they performed 6 percent better on thinking skills and improved their verbal fluency by 2.4 percent.

Dr Poulin said:

“This change in verbal fluency is what you’d expect to see in someone five years younger.”

Blood flow also increased to the brain by 2.8 percent.

Dr Poulin said:

“Our study showed that six months’ worth of vigorous exercise may pump blood to regions of the brain that specifically improve your verbal skills as well as memory and mental sharpness.

At a time when these results would be expected to be decreasing due to normal aging, to have these types of increases is exciting.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Guadagniet al., 2020).