Research carried out by scientists from the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) has shown that avoiding cardiovascular risk factors – smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, sedentary lifestyle and diabetes, among others – not only protects the health of the heart and arteries, but is key to preventing Alzheimer’s.
Cardiovascular diseases and dementia often occur at the same time in elderly people, but there are few studies in middle-aged people (50 years) that have evaluated the interaction between atherosclerosis (formation of fatty plaques in the arteries that block them) and brain health. The study has been published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity and shows that atherosclerosis and its associated complications are involved in the appearance of brain alterations related to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia.
These findings are very relevant because they offer the possibility of intervening on a modifiable health problem, such as cardiovascular diseases, to prevent the development of dementia, for which there is no treatment for many patients, stated Dr. Valentín Fuster, one from the main authors of the study, who adds: “The sooner we start to control cardiovascular risk factors, the better it will be for our brain.”
Modifiable risk factors that precede Alzheimer’s
In 2021, CNIC researchers discovered that the presence of cardiovascular risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis – before symptoms appear – in the carotid arteries – which are responsible for supplying blood to the brain – in apparently healthy 50-year-old individuals participating in the PESA-CNIC-Santander study, was associated with lower cerebral glucose metabolism. Brain glucose metabolism is considered an indicator of brain health.
“Carotid screening has great potential to identify people vulnerable to brain disorders and cognitive decline in the future”
The participants of the PESA-CNIC-Santander have been followed for five years and it has been found that those who maintain a high cardiovascular risk throughout this time suffer an even greater decrease in brain metabolism measured through imaging techniques such as CT scan. positron emission (PET). “We have detected a cerebral metabolic decline three times greater than that of people who remain at low cardiovascular risk,” says Catarina Tristão-Pereira, first signatory of the article.
Glucose is the main source of energy for neurons and other brain cells. “If cerebral glucose consumption decreases for several years, it can limit the brain’s ability to deal with neurodegenerative or cerebrovascular diseases in the future,” says Juan Domingo Gispert, an expert in Neuroimaging at the CNIC and the Barcelonaβeta Research Center.
In fact, in collaboration with experts from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), they discovered that this metabolic decline was partly due to the fact that neuronal damage already existed in these individuals. “This data is particularly relevant since the death of neurons is an irreversible process,” notes Marta Cortés Canteli, neuroscientist at the CNIC.
The researchers also discovered that the progression of subclinical atherosclerosis in the carotids during these five years was related to a decrease in metabolism in brain regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, which added to the effect of cardiovascular risk factors themselves. “These results corroborate that imaging detection of subclinical atherosclerosis provides very relevant information,” adds Fuster.
The researchers state that, based on these results, “carotid screening has great potential to identify people vulnerable to brain disorders and cognitive impairment in the future,” and they highlight that “this work could have important implications for clinical practice, as it supports the implementation of primary cardiovascular prevention strategies early in life as a valuable approach for healthy brain longevity.”
“Although we still do not know the impact that this decrease in brain metabolism may have on cognitive function, having already detected neuronal damage does indicate that the sooner we begin to control cardiovascular risk factors, the better it will be for our brain,” concludes Dr. Cortés Canteli.
Source: National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC)
