The research, which have led the Global Health Institute of Barcelona (ISGlobal) -Centro promoted by the “La Caixa” Foundation – and Barcelona Sal Brain Research Center (BBRC) of the Pasqual Maragall Foundation, in Spain, has been published in the scientific journal in the scientific journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
The study links the level of physical activity of people with the accumulation of beta amyloid protein, the isglobal reported in a statement.
Beta amyloid is a protein that can hinder communication between neurons if it accumulates in the brain and is a key factor in the subsequent appearance of symptoms of this neurodegenerative disease.
Scientists have followed up for four years of 337 people from the Spanish region of Catalonia of medium age (from 45 to 65 years) with a family history of Alzheimer’s.
In this period, its level of physical activity and neuroimaging tests have been evaluated, explained the first author of the study, Müge Akıncı, a doctoral researcher in Isglobal and the BBRC at the time the investigation was carried out.
The study has shown that the participants who followed the recommendations of physical activity determined by the World Health Organization (WHO) presented a lower accumulation of beta amyloid with respect to those who reduced their physical activity or adopted a sedentary lifestyle.
Read more: step by step: How to start implementing exercise with small changes in routine
WHO recommendations
Specifically, WHO recommends making between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate physical exercise or between 75 and 150 intense minutes per week.
In addition, study scientists have detected that, the greater the increase in activity, the greater the reduction of the presence of this protein in the brain.
Non -sedentary subjects, in addition, have turned out to have a higher cortical thickness in some brain regions related to Alzheimer’s, such as medial temporal areas, keys in memory.
According to the ISGlobal, it is estimated that 13% of Alzheimer’s cases can be attributed to physical inactivity.
In this sense, the Isglobal researcher who has led the study, Eider Arenaza-urquijo, has expressed that the results “reinforce the importance of promoting exercise in the middle age as a public health strategy” and that these campaigns “could be key to reducing the incidence of Alzheimer’s in the future.”