Published on: May 13, 2025
Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Public Health and the School of Medicine have found that heart-healthy lifestyles may also slow brain aging and reduce the risk of dementia. Their findings, published in eBioMedicine, are based on an AI-driven analysis of MRI brain scans from nearly 20,000 individuals aged 40–69 in the UK Biobank. The study focused on white matter—crucial for brain communication—which naturally declines with age and can lead to cognitive issues.
Using machine learning, the team estimated each participant's brain age based on white matter integrity and compared it to their chronological age. They then evaluated participants using the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 (LE8)—a set of health metrics that include diet, exercise, smoking status, sleep, BMI, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure. Higher LE8 scores were linked to healthier white matter and a "younger" brain, suggesting a delayed aging process.
Lead researcher Tianzhou Charles Ma emphasized that simple lifestyle changes like exercising more or quitting smoking could be more effective than medications in preventing early cognitive decline. Importantly, the protective effect of heart-healthy habits was seen even in those carrying the APOE4 gene, the strongest known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, supported by NIH funding and the MPowering the State initiative, underscores the potential of AI in identifying subtle but significant patterns in brain health. Co-author Shuo Chen, an expert in biostatistics and neurological imaging, highlighted the power of combining large datasets with machine learning to track the cumulative impact of lifestyle and stress on brain aging.
In a related paper published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the team applied the same techniques to link chronic stress with accelerated brain aging. Regardless of factors like gender, socioeconomic status, or lifestyle, long-term stress was shown to age the brain more rapidly.
Together, these studies suggest that both healthy habits and stress management are critical to maintaining brain health over time. They also point to the future of personalized prevention strategies that incorporate genetics, lifestyle, and mental health to delay or prevent age-related cognitive decline.
Source: https://mpower.maryland.edu/heart-healthy-lifestyles-can-also-delay-brain-aging-researchers-find/
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