Doctors have called a drug that increases the risk of dementia
Neurology: regular use of laxatives increases the risk of developing dementia by more than 50%
Scientists from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology at the Chinese Academy of Science found that taking laxatives on a regular basis increases the risk of developing senile dementia by more than 50%. The results of their work, the researchers outlined in an article published in the journal Neurology .
The authors of the work conducted a study involving 502 thousand people, the data of which were available to scientists. More than 18 thousand patients regularly took laxatives. Over nearly 10 years of follow-up, 218 (1.3%) of the frequent laxative users and 1969 (0.4%) of the non-users developed dementia.
Scientists note that in old age people often begin to suffer from constipation and take laxatives. However, these medications can disrupt the gut microflora, increasing the production of toxins in the gut that can affect the brain.
In future work, scientists plan to confirm the results obtained in this work and more accurately establish the reasons for the relationship between laxatives and high risks of developing dementia.
