Two medical research studies over the course of the last year have discovered that over the counter allergy and common cold medicines will shrink the size of the human brain and greatly increase the dangers of developing Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia.
The research team at the University of Indiana School of Medicine recently found that, in just two and a half years, those people who frequently used over the counter cold and allergy medicines had brains that were noticeably smaller than those who never take them. In 2015, a similar study on cold and allergy medicines found that they substantially increased the risk of attracting Alzheimer’s. Both studies are not good news for both the drug companies and the general public.
The subjects of the study also had impaired cognitive abilities as well as damaged brain metabolism. The medicines under study are anticholinergics. They prevent the transmission of a chemical called acetylcholine which allows nerve cells to send out electrical impulses to the brain. It is believed that the medicines greatly affect Alzheimer patients, and potential patients, because those with Alzheimer’s have no acetylcholine.
The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Shannon Risacher, said that, “These findings provide us with a much better understanding of how this class of drugs may act upon the brain in ways that might raise the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia.”
The research studied 451 patients who were using at least one cold or allergy medication while the remainder of the group took no over the counter medicines. The research patients were given a battery of cognitive reasoning exams as well as brain measuring technology. The scientists used both magnetic resonance imagery machines as well as positron emissions tests to monitor and properly gauge the changes in brain metabolism.
Dr. Risacher hopes that these two combined studies will further the understanding of how these over the counter allergy and cold medicines affect the brain’s metabolism as well as heighten the risk of dementia.
PHOTO SOURCE: Reuters