Younger people may have larger brains and lower risk of dementia

Research using MRI images accumulated over 75 years has shown that the size of the brain changes depending on the generation. Specifically, people born in the 1970s have 6.6% greater brain capacity than people born in the 1930s, and larger brain capacity is expected to reduce the risk of age-related dementia.

Trends in Intracranial and Cerebral Volumes of Framingham Heart Study Participants Born 1930 to 1970 | Neurology | JAMA Neurology | JAMA Network

Human brains are getting larger. That may be good news for dementia risk

Younger Generations Have Larger Brains. Is That Healthier? : ScienceAlert
https://www.sciencealert.com/younger-generations-have-larger-brains-is-that-healthier

The research was conducted by the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the University of California, Davis, and the paper was published in 'JAMA Neurology' on March 25, 2024.

In Framingham, a city in eastern Massachusetts, a study called the 'Framingham Heart Study (FHS)' has been conducted continuously for more than 70 years since 1948, and from 1999 to 2019, participants with an average age of 57 years old. MRI scans were performed on 3,226 people.

Charles DeCarli of the University of California, Davis, and colleagues compared MRI images obtained at FHS of people born in the 1930s with those of people born in the 1970s. The results showed a steady increase in brain capacity.

Specifically, people born in the 1930s had an average brain volume of 1234ml, while those born in the 1970s had an average brain capacity of 1321ml, an increase of 6.6%. Similar trends were observed for surface area, gray matter, and hippocampus.

DeCarli explained that increases in brain volume like those observed in this study may reflect improvements in brain development and health. The authors also say that larger brain structures may free up brain reserves and reduce the late-life effects of age-related brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. I am.

Although DeCarli et al.'s research was supported by the FHS, which has been conducted for over 70 years, the participants are non-Hispanic whites who make up the majority of the cohort, so they are not representative of the entire U.S. population. It seems that there are no results.