DETROIT – Medical experts said keeping tight control of blood pressure might help protect memory and thinking skills later in life.
Doctors have long suspected that what's good for the heart is also good for the head. Now there's scientific proof that drastically lowering high blood pressure has benefits for the brain.
"For the first time, we actually have evidence that it can either delay or avoid altogether mild cognitive impairment and dementia," said Maria Carrillo, of the Alzheimer's Association.
The research project involved nearly 10,000 older adults. Those able to get their top blood pressure number down to 120 were nearly 20 percent less likely to develop the memory and thinking problems that often precede Alzheimer's disease.
But it's too soon to say it can prevent Alzheimer's, researchers said.
"I think this is a start, rather than a finish," said Dr. Alan Lerner, of University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. "This is the first big study to show that risk factor control has some legs."
A separate study shows promise for an experimental drug from the pharmaceutical company, Biogen. Patients showed cognitive improvements a year and a half into treatment.
"The combination of lifestyle with therapeutics is the future for Alzheimer's and dementia treatments," Lerner said.
More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease.
Medication is one way to bring down high blood pressure, as is quitting smoking, cutting back on salt and alcohol and getting plenty of exercise. Those things are also beneficial for the heart.