Affiliate Disclaimer
Some links in this article are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we find useful to our readers
If statistics are anything to go by, it is believed that out of all the people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, two-thirds of them are women. Doesn’t it really stir a bell as to why the signs of Alzheimer’s and Dementia so dominant in the female trait?
Scientists revealed in a new study that it might be the effect of the female sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) on a woman’s body that could be influencing the possible early onset of these diseases related to one’s cognition and associated abilities.
In the recently held Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on July 23, 2018 in Chicago, a few researchers reported (R) their findings stating that women might be able to successfully delay or even abolish any signs of dementia or early onset of Alzheimer’s disease if they attain their menstruation early in their life and undergo menopause later. Not just that, even conceiving more than one child might positively affect their levels of hormones, thereby keeping the signs and symptoms of Alzheimer’s at bay.
The researchers working on this subject further claimed that the administration of the hormone replacement therapy (R) might just be the answer to ensuring the proper protection of a woman’s brain if the same is given in the correct time.
Addressing the problem, the Chief Scientific Officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, Dr Maria Carrillo claimed that the same was more than self-explanatory of the common reasons behind why women are affected with Alzheimer’s and Dementia in comparison to men. She further claimed that there has to be a distinctive underpinning reason behind this which is exactly what they need to find out.
This underlying effect of estrogen and progesterone on the cognitive abilities of a woman has also been deduced way back by scientists. Not just that, there are even studies (R) (R) (R) that claim the correlation between the role of the female sex hormones and dementia.
One of these studies in the above mentioned references were conducted amidst 15,000 women residing in California which gave them solid evidence to base their findings and establish the relation between a woman’s reproductive system and the kind of risks they are exposed to with respect to one’s memory and cognitive functions.
Now with the possible talks about the relation between the hormones and Alzheimer’s, let us focus on a completely different subject. Two renowned scientists Paola Gilsanz who is from the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research along with Rachel Whitmer from the University of California, Davis deduced that the risks of dementia and related symptoms relatively reduced by around 12% for women who have conceived more than one child, preferably two or three. Not just that, there are even strong connections between the early onset of menstruation and menopause. Women who experience menstruation early in their life and attained menopause at a later age preferably after 50 are more likely not going to experience the signs of dementia. This reduced the probability by 28%.
Cumulatively, all of these ascertain the fact there is a very vivid relation between the female sex hormones affecting the cognitive abilities in women at a later stage in life. The hormones, which are high in concentration during and gradually lessen once one attains menopause might be the primary reason behind the associated conditions of Alzheimer’s.
While the concept of hormone therapy was disregarded as something “not fruitful” just a decade or so back, the recent findings state that the hormone therapy with estrogen might be an effective way to get rid of the possibilities of these age-related issues in women.
On a concluding note, nothing is still set on stone, researches are still going on to find the underlying reasons behind the more infliction of Alzheimer’s on women in comparison to men. There are even researches conducted on the men sex hormone, testosterone, to see its effects on the Alzheimer’s in men.
