Keeping your cholesterol in a healthy range could do more than protect your heart. A major study from the University of Bristol and Copenhagen University Hospital found that people with genes that naturally lower cholesterol were much less likely to develop dementia.
The research, published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia, looked at genetic data from more than one million people across Denmark, England, and Finland. Using a method called Mendelian randomization, scientists studied how lower cholesterol affects the brain over time. Even a small drop in cholesterol was linked to as much as an 80 percent lower risk of dementia in some people.
The study does not prove that cholesterol-lowering drugs directly prevent dementia, but it strongly supports the connection between high cholesterol, blood vessel damage, and memory loss. Researchers say more long-term studies are needed to see if managing cholesterol early in life can delay or even prevent dementia later on.
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