Study after study has made it clear that if you live with cardiovascular disease risk factors, you also face a heightened risk of developing dementia.

In fact, research proves that the earlier you develop diabetes, the more likely you are to suffer from dementia and that as your weight and blood pressure go up, so do your chances of cognitive decline.

And while smoking is bad for your heart as well as your lungs, it could be just as deadly to your brain. One study found that male smokers lose their cognitive abilities quicker than nonsmokers. And a second study found that even secondhand smoke significantly increases dementia risk.

However, while we all must be careful of these risk factors to keep our brains healthy and our memories intact, scientists say that men need to start paying attention to their hearts an entire decade earlier than women.

Here’s why…

Heart risk factors and brain volume loss

The findings come from a long-term study published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

The research, which followed 34,425 participants of the UK Biobank, used the Framingham Risk Score to assess heart disease risk and cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, diabetes and more. They then compared these to changes in brain structure and volume, which signal the development of dementia and cognitive decline.

The results showed a clear link between cardiovascular risk factors and dangerous brain changes…

For example, the researchers found that higher levels of abdominal fat and visceral adipose tissue (deep belly fat that wraps around your organs) were associated with lower brain grey matter volume in both men and women. 

The regions of the brain most vulnerable are the ones involved in aural, visual, and emotional information processing, as well as memory — the same regions that are affected early on in the development of dementia.

According to the researchers, these associations held true whether or not a person carried the Alzheimer’s (APOE4) gene or not.

However, what the researchers didn’t expect to find was that the strongest influence of cardiovascular risk factors, including obesity, on brain neurodegeneration occurred a decade earlier in men than in women…

And that the effect of these risk factors on dementia risk was also stronger in men than women.

The researchers say that while women are most susceptible between the ages of 65 and 74, the danger for men starts at age 55, going all the way to 74 years old.

In other words, men’s vulnerability is greater, begins sooner, and lasts longer.

Reducing heart risk to reduce dementia risk

With these results, the researchers concluded, “Targeting cardiovascular risk and obesity a decade earlier in males than females may be imperative for potential candidates to achieve a therapeutic benefit in preventing neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.”

In other words, men should focus on managing their weight and reducing other heart disease risk factors at a younger age to start staving off dementia.

This means giving up smoking, eating healthy and getting plenty of exercise to lose weight.

The good news is that those last two also reduce your chances of diabetes, another cardiovascular risk factor.

In fact, researchers have found that simply getting enough steps in daily can reduce your risk of diabetes by a whopping 44%!

An easy way to take down three risk factors at once — blood pressure, blood sugar and weight — is to increase your intake of flavonoids such as anthocyanins, fisetin, quercetin and isoflavones.

Sources:

Men at high risk of cardiovascular disease face brain health decline 10 years earlier than women — EurekAlert!

10 scientifically proven ways to lower your dementia risk — Easy Health Options

Tight blood pressure control may be key to closing door on dementia — Easy Health Options

Is your weight putting you at risk for Alzheimer’s? — Easy Health Options

How age, diabetes and dementia intersect — Easy Health Options