Health
Higher dementia risk seen in women with common health issue
An estimated 80% of women have some type of menopause symptoms — and the more symptoms they experience, the greater the chances of developing dementia later in life.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS One following a study by the University of Calgary.
The researchers analyzed the data of 896 postmenopausal women who participated in the Canadian Platform for Research Online to Investigate Health, Quality of Life, Cognition, Behaviour, Function, and Caregiving in Aging (CAN-PROTECT) study.
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The women reported their perimenopausal symptoms to researchers. Their cognitive function was measured using the Everyday Cognition (ECog-II) Scale and the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C), with higher scores indicating greater severity.
Those with greater menopausal symptoms had higher scores for both cognitive tests, indicating more severe decline.
An estimated 80% of women experience some type of menopause symptoms — and the worse they are, the greater the chances of developing dementia later in life, according to a new study. (iStock)
“One of the most interesting findings was the association between menopausal symptom burden and mild behavioral impairment (MBI) symptoms — a syndrome increasingly recognized as an early indicator of dementia risk,” lead study author Zahinoor Ismail, M.D., professor of psychiatry, neurology, epidemiology and pathology at the University of Calgary, told Fox News Digital.
“These novel findings highlight the need to consider not only cognitive changes, but also mood, social interaction and personality changes that emerge and persist in later life following menopause.”
“These novel findings highlight the need to consider not only cognitive changes, but also mood, social interaction and personality changes.”
While hormone therapy was not significantly associated with cognitive function, it was shown to have a significant link to fewer MBI symptoms, according to the researchers, emphasizing the need for further research into the potential role of hormone therapy in long-term brain health.
“Interestingly, participants who reported using estrogen-based hormone therapy during perimenopause had significantly lower mild behavioral impairment symptom severity,” noted Ismail.
“One of the most interesting findings was the association between menopausal symptom burden and mild behavioral impairment symptoms — a syndrome increasingly recognized as an early indicator of dementia risk,” the lead study author noted. (iStock)
Alexa Fiffick, a board-certified family medicine physician specializing in menopause, stated that previous data has shown higher symptom burden is somehow related to decreased cognitive function and possibly dementia.
Some studies have shown that even when hot flashes aren’t perceived by the woman, they are still associated with worsened cognitive function, according to the Ohio doctor.
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“It is believed that the vasomotor symptoms are correlated with development of white matter hyperintensities in the brain, akin to what vascular dementia looks like on imaging,” Fiffick, who was not involved in the new study, told Fox News Digital.
“We have yet to obtain the data that treating VMS will prevent cognitive decline, but are hopeful that with menopausal hormone therapy and other non-hormonal options, we may be able to obtain this data in the near future.”
Potential limitations
The researchers acknowledged several limitations of the study.
“This study is cross-sectional, meaning it captures a snapshot in time rather than tracking changes over the years,” Ismail told Fox News Digital.
Some studies have shown that even when hot flashes aren’t perceived by the woman, they are still associated with worsened cognitive function. (iStock)
This means it can only identify associations between menopause symptoms and cognitive and behavioral health, but cannot determine whether the symptoms directly cause the changes in brain health.
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“To better understand the long-term impact of menopause on dementia risk, future research should follow participants over time and incorporate biological data, such as hormone levels and brain-related biomarkers (we are, in fact, doing this now),” Ismail added.
The study also did not assess the severity of the symptoms, which could play a key role in understanding risk.
“This research just reinforces that menopause is a neurological shift as much as it is a hormonal one.” (iStock)
Another limitation is that the study focused on the most commonly reported menopause symptoms, but it’s possible that some participants experienced additional symptoms.
“In fact, it’s reported that there may be 30+ symptoms that females may experience when undergoing the menopause transition,” said Ismail. “While we included an ‘other symptoms’ category, it may not fully reflect the range of experiences.”
The study also did not distinguish between different types and formulations of hormone therapy.
“Future studies will be able to explore whether specific types of HT have different effects on brain health,” Ismail noted.
“Brain scans of women in menopause reveal real structural and metabolic changes, and this study reinforces that we can’t just brush these symptoms off as ‘normal aging.’”
Tamsen Fadal, a New York menopause expert and author of the upcoming book “How to Menopause: Take Charge of Your Health, Reclaim Your Life, and Feel Even Better than Before,” said she was not surprised by the results of the study.
“Research has been pointing to this connection for a while,” she told Fox News Digital. “Brain scans of women in menopause reveal real structural and metabolic changes, and this study reinforces that we can’t just brush these symptoms off as ‘normal aging.’”
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“For too long, women have been experiencing brain fog, memory lapses and mood changes, and many of us have been dismissed,” Fadal went on.
“This research just reinforces that menopause is a neurological shift as much as it is a hormonal one.”
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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