Brain Function Could Start Declining ‘As Early As Age 45′

The brain’s ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical Journal.

University College London researchers found a 3.6 percent decline in mental reasoning in women and men aged 45-49.

They assessed the memory, vocabulary and comprehension skills of 7,000 men and women aged 45 to 70 over 10 years.

Anchor Lisa Mullins talk with study co-author Jane Ferrie of University College London.

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Lisa Mullins: Another medical story out of Britain now. A study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that memory and other brain functions can start to deteriorate in people as young as 45. Previous research on dementia and similar brain afflictions focused mainly on people over 60. The author studied the mental capabilities of thousands of British civil servants from ages 45-70. Dr. Jane Ferrie is from University College London and she coauthored the study. At 59 she says she’s noticed some changes.

Dr. Jane Ferrie: I find it a little bit scary, but I would have to say based on the solvable size of one that one, I do notice that my cognitive function isn’t quite what it used to be. Cognitive decline appears to start very slowly you know, in a relatively minor way in people as young as 45-49. But we’re talking about very small changes that increase with age.

Mullins: But how does this change the current thinking about the progress or the deterioration of the brain?

Ferrie: What we were able to do in our study is one, we included very large numbers, over 5,000 men, over 2,000 women and most previous studies have been relatively small. Also, a lot of previous studies have not had the ability to look at changes in cognitive function in the same people. What we have been able to do now is use data from three clinical screenings of cognitive function so that our participants come in and they do cognitive function tests with us there. That’s the advantage of the methods that we’ve used, that they’ve enabled much more rigorous investigation of this question.

Mullins: Is there a direct link though between what you found in decline of the brain from age 45 on, and as you say, even tiny bits of evidence of decline; and the onset of some kind of dementia, either Alzheimer’s or something else? Does one necessarily lead to the other?

Ferrie: No, we haven’t been able to show that yet. Obviously we hope to be able to continue to follow these people and we will be looking at that as an outcome with some of our participants in later life. Of course, one of the advantages of realizing that this process starts much earlier in life is one, that it will enable much earlier detection, and also it makes it very clear that any interventions need to start much earlier in life. So people need to think about protecting their cognitive function and it seems from research that’s been done to date that the things that protect cognitive decline is very similar to the things that we do to protect our bodies — you know, good diet, good exercise.

Mullins: So for the things that you think really will make a difference, and I don’t know to what extent we know that for sure, but you know, give us three things right now, whether or not we’re younger than 45 or older.

Ferrie: Well, they’re really basic things that we all need to be doing — eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, making sure you have a minimum of at least a half an hour of vigorous exercise a day, keep our bodies and our minds as active as possible.

Mullins: There goes the weekend, but thank you.

Ferrie: Yes.

Mullins: Thank you very much, Dr. Jane Ferrie, one of the coauthors of the study of finding that brain function can start to decline at the age of 45, a study conducted by the University College London, thank you again.

Ferrie: Thank you very much.

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