American scientists have discovered a revolutionary way to combat dementia — with the help of anti-impotence pills. The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Aging.
Alzheimer is called a disease of modern civilization. People live longer and often live into senile dementia. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of age-related dementia. It affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
It is an irreversible and progressive neurodegenerative disease of the brain with multiple causes and inherited risks. Typically, 5-10 years pass from the first signs of forgetfulness to deep dementia.
Unfortunately, there is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s, but research in this direction does not stop.
So, American scientists from Cleveland seem to have figured out how to seriously reduce the likelihood of dementia. Oddly enough — with the help of anti-impotence pills. They found that users of sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra) were much less likely to develop Alzheimer's than those who did not take it.
By the way, Viagra was originally developed to increase blood flow to the heart muscle and lower blood pressure. But the drug did not live up to expectations. But it was noted that sildenafil provides significant blood flow to the male genital organs, and, as a result, improves the quality of erection. This is how the famous anti-impotence pills “Viagra” appeared.The researchers analyzed 1,600 different drugs and the histories of more than 7 million patients. It was found that those prescribed sildenafil had a 69% lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease over the next six years.
In addition, it was found that sildenafil can stimulate the growth of brain cells and reduce some pathological signs dementia. But scientists do not rule out that in addition to sildenafil, other risk-reducing factors could have been present in this study.
Professor Tara Spears-Jones, deputy director of the Center for Brain Research at the University of Edinburgh, warns that there is no rush to take sildenafil as a preventive measure for Alzheimer's disease.
Unfortunately, the results of this study are not sufficient to prove that sildenafil is responsible for reducing the risk of dementia or that it slows or stops disease. The only way to test this is to conduct a large-scale clinical trial that compares the effects of sildenafil with conventional treatment regimens.