Dementia danger from lighting up
Smokers are significantly more likely to develop Alzheimer's and other types of dementia than people who have quit or never smoked, Dutch researchers have found from a seven-year study of almost 7,000 people over 55. Smokers were 50 per cent more likely to develop dementia, Reuters reports. The Erasmus Medical Centre researchers say possible reasons for the greater risk include small strokes caused by smoking, which in turn damage the brain; and oxidative stress, a sort of rusting within blood vessels that's seen in Alzheimer's sufferers.