Constipation May Drive Mental Decline

Those continually experiencing constipation with bowel movements occurring 3 days or more apart have reduced cognitive skills equal to someone 3 years older. Harvard Medical School investigators analyzed data from 12,696 female and male subjects in two Nurses Health Studies looking at bowel emptying frequency and cognitive skills as measured by a standard neuropsychological test battery.

Compared with those having daily bowel movements, those who had to wait 3 days or more for a movement scored significantly worse on their cognitive function tests. Their cognitive skills equaled those of persons from 1 to nearly 5 years older. These constipated individuals were also 73% more likely to suffer cognitive decline with aging.

This is yet another instance of an association between gastrointestinal and brain function. Then again, we all know people with their proverbial heads up their butts.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/998412?ecd=a2a

#constipation #cognition #dementia