Researchers found that even small increases in cholesterol from the
recommended levels in your early 40s can increase dangers of
developing dementia by more than half two decades later.
When the cholesterol level increase even further then the threat
increases proportionally.
The findings add further weight to evidence that prevention of
Alzheimer’s should start earlier in life and that it is connected to
overall health – particularly heart and circulation health.
More than 700,000 people in Britain have dementia, of which
Alzheimer’s is the most common form, but that number is expected to
mushroom in coming decades as the population ages.
Health experts recommend that cholesterol levels in your blood should
be kept below a rating of five and anything higher than that puts your
heart and cardiovascular system under strain. However this figure
varies from person to person.
The four decade study of 9,844 men and women found that those having
high cholesterol in their early 40s of six were 66 per cent more
likely to have Alzheimer’s disease when they reached their sixties,
seventies and eighties.
Even borderline cholesterol levels of 5.1 in midlife raised risk for
late-life dementia by 52 per cent.
The new study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente’s Division of
Research in California and the University of Kuopio in Finland was
published in the journalDementia & Geriatric Cognitive Disorders.
"Our study shows that even moderately high cholesterol levels in your
40s puts people at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease and vascular
dementia decades later," said the study’s senior author Dr Rachel
Whitmer, a research scientist and epidemiologist at the Kaiser
Permanente Division of Research.
"The good news here is that what is good for the heart is also good
for the mind, and this is an early risk factor for dementia that can
be modified and managed by lowering cholesterol through healthy
lifestyle changes."
The study’s lead author, Alina Solomon, MD, a researcher with the
Department of Neurology at the University of Kuopio, Finland, added:
"Dementia and cardiovascular disease are common major health problems,
share several risk factors and often occur simultaneously, interacting
with one another.
"A holistic approach that addresses multiple major health problems
simultaneously is needed to effectively manage these disorders."
It is believed that around a third of the population in the UK suffers
from higher than recommended cholesterol levels during their life.
The average level in Britain is 5.8, rising to 6.3 in the over-75s.
Source: Telegraph
Author: Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
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