Suffering from intestinal disorders can double the chances of suffering from Alzheimer's
A macro study with data from half a million patients shows the relationship between the digestive system and the brain.
BarcelonaThe connection between the digestive system and the brain is more important than previously thought. This was confirmed by a macro-study by the Center for Alzheimer's and Other Dementia Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published this Wednesday in the scientific journal Science Advances. The research led by Spanish scientist Sara Bandrés-Ciga, director of the neurogenetics department at the Center for Alzheimer's Research, also concludes that the likelihood of developing neurodegenerative diseases can double in people who suffer from persistent intestinal disorders.
"The digestive system has its own second brain, the enteric nervous system, capable of influencing the health of your main brain," Bandrés-Ciga explained in statements to the Efe news agency. For this reason, the scientist's team has analyzed the information collected since 2000 in three large databases—the UK BioBank and the biobanks of Scotland (SAIL Biobank) and Finland (FinnGen)—to explore what the consequences of the relationship between digestive disorders may be.
As Bandrés-Ciga explains, the study, which took into account data from more than 500,000 patients, shows how "people with persistent intestinal disorders may be up to twice as likely to develop neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's." To arrive at this estimate, the researchers took into account some of the 155 metabolic, digestive, nutritional, and endocrine diagnoses that impact the gut-brain axis, including gastroenteritis, colitis, or functional disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, and abdominal constipation.
The digestive system, a key player
Researchers have detected that people with non-infectious colitis, gastritis, and esophagitis had a higher rate of developing Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. "We have seen that neurodegeneration does not only depend on the brain: our digestive system emerges as a key player that modulates the risk of developing Alzheimer's and Parkinson's," the study's director insisted.
For this reason, Bandrés-Ciga calls for work to approach the study of neurodegenerative diseases "from a systemic perspective, in which neurodegeneration is not just a brain disease, but the result of an imbalance in multiple systems that interact through the gut axis."
