Researchers from Netherlands said that men with increased levels of sex hormone estrogen are at an increased risk of suffering from dementia.
This hormone is present at a lower level in men when compared to women. The study results are published in the Annals of Neurology. Dr. Mirjam Geerlings, from the University Medical Center Utrecht, and colleagues conducted the study among 2974 older men for a period of six years.The participants were mainly of Japanese-American men aged 70-90 years. The study mainly analysed the levels of testosterone and estradiol. At the end of the study about 134 men developed Alzheimer's disease and 44 men developed another type of dementia. The researchers concluded that increased levels of estrogen were associated with an increased chance of developing Alzheimer's disease. These men also fared very poorly in the cognitive test conducted by the researchers. The main reason is that estrogen hastens the enzyme activity in the brain which is linked to the neurodegenerative pathway. On the other hand testosterone levels did not affect the cognitive ability of an individual.
