*For medical professionals only
Humans stand at the top of the food chain, not by agility or strength, but by intelligence, which comes from a larger proportion of human brains than other animals.
And our brains are getting bigger and bigger.
Recently, the research team of the University of California, Davis published a paper in the journal "JAMA Neurology", researchers analyzed the brain data of more than 3,000 people born from 1930 to 1970, and found that compared with the post-30s, the brain volume of the post-70s has increased by 6.6%, and the cerebral cortex area has increased by nearly 15%!
Researchers believe that larger brains provide a buffer for age-related brain diseases, as may be the case with the decline in dementia rates observed in recent years.
Diagram of the title of the dissertation
The data used in the study came from the Flemingham Heart Study (FHS), a long-term cohort that has been going on since the 40s of the last century, spanning more than 75 years, and enrolled participants in the third generation of the original enrollees.
Since 1999, cohort studies have included brain MRI and neuropsychological tests, which have given researchers the opportunity to track changes in the human brain longitudinally.
A total of 3226 participants, 53% of whom were women, had a mean age of 57.4 years at the time of MRI and 46% had a university education. Female participants had relatively low absolute values such as height and brain volume, which were significantly different from those of men.
Interestingly, comparing the post-30s and post-70s, the height has not changed much, with the average height of the post-30s being 66 inches (about 1.67 meters) and the post-70s being 67.6 inches. But the size of the brain has become significantly larger after the 70s.
The average brain volume of the post-30s generation is 1234ml, while the post-70s generation is 1321ml, an increase of 6.6%; similarly, the volume of white matter has increased by 7.7%, the volume of the hippocampus has increased by 5.7%, and what is even more surprising is that the area of the cerebral cortex has increased from an average of 1933cm2 to 2222cm2, an increase of 14.9%!
There are significant and continuous changes in brain structure
The researchers adjusted for factors such as height, gender, age, etc., and this change in brain structure still exists. Researchers believe this may explain the decline in dementia incidence in recent years.
Yes, the incidence of dementia is actually decreasing! Although the number of people affected by diseases such as Alzheimer's disease is increasing dramatically as the population ages, the incidence is actually decreasing.
DeCarli, the study's lead author, said in an interview that larger brains may reflect improved brain development and health, which provides a buffer for age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, which may reduce the impact of illness later in life.
The limitations of this study are that the cohort participants are predominantly non-Hispanic white, physically fit, well-educated, and not representative of a broad population, and sociocultural and health differences have some effect on the brain.
But in general, human beings are still continuing to evolve intellectually, so it's right to get the advantage range!
Resources:
[1]https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2816798
[2]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/03/240325172408.htm
The author of this article丨 Dai Siyu