Good Heart Health May Keep Your Mind Sharp, Too
Jun-12-2014

Good heart health benefits your brain, a new study suggests.

People with poor heart health are more likely to develop mental impairment than those with healthy hearts, according to researchers.

The study looked at about 17,800 Americans, aged 45 and older, who underwent tests of mental function at the start of the study and again four years later.

After accounting for differences in age, sex, race and education, the investigators found that learning, memory and verbal skills deficits developed in 4.6 percent of people with the poorest heart health, 2.7 percent of those with intermediate heart health and 2.6 percent of those with the most healthy hearts.

"Even when ideal cardiovascular health is not achieved, intermediate levels of cardiovascular health are preferable to low levels for better [mental] function," lead investigator Evan Thacker, an assistant professor and chronic disease epidemiologist at Brigham Young University, said in a journal news release.

"This is an encouraging message because intermediate cardiovascular health is a more realistic target for many individuals than ideal cardiovascular health," he added.

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