The health of the brain depends a lot on the health of the heart, according to a very interesting study conducted at the prestigious John Hopkins University.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, middle-aged people with risk factors for heart disease and stroke are more likely to develop amyloid protein deposits in the brain.
Such deposits are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.
The greatest risk for their occurrence is observed in people who smoke, have too high blood pressure, suffer from obesity and have diabetes or too high concentration of the so-called bad LDL cholesterol in the blood.
The presence of at least two of these risk factors was associated with a threefold risk of developing amyloid protein deposits in the brain.
Obesity was the single most important risk factor and independently doubled the risk of amyloid protein accumulation.
The research used data collected from 350 people followed since 1987.
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