Lead exposure can affect the brain decades later
Scientists are discovering that even though lead has been phased out of our environment, those elderly who were exposed decades ago are still feeling the effects. Apparently lead exposure back then has a strong link to their mental decline now.This flies in the face of what many considered to be a "natural aging" of the brain's decline. However, researchers are quick to note that this is not the sole cause of mental decline as the years wear on. What they are saying is that this exposure has accumulated in their bodies, and still affects their health decades later by causing the brain to work like it's five years older. We live in a time where almost everything we touch is treated with a chemical. But the problem back then was that they didn't realize the full effects of lead.
Thankfully environmental levels dropped dramatically starting in the mid-70's so that by 1990 the amount of lead in the average American had dropped by 80 percent. However, lead in the bone which was contracted in the past can still be measured today (everyone has some level of it in their bodies). More research is needed to figure out the mechanism by which lead stays in the system and how it influences brain aging. Hopefully they can pin it down and cut lead out of our every day interactions even more.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-01-2008 @ 12:28PM
Pat said...
My 82 year old Dad used to melt down lead and mold his own toy soldiers to play with as a kid. Also made his own lead fishing lures and sinkers for years. He was the proverbial "rocket scientist" engineer and a brilliant man, but now he's living with full-blown dementia and Parkinson's-like physical problems. Tests for lead revealed 3X the toxic level in his system. Chelation therapy helped for a while, but his mental decline made it hard to manage. This lead thing is serious stuff, and most traditional doctors act annoyed when you bring it up because it doesn't fit their familiar profiles or protocols. God bless anyone who has to live with this or lose a loved one to it.
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