COVER STORY RESEARCH The heart-brain connection Hypertension is more than just heart health A by dr . romi fung , nd ccording to the 2020 report by Statistics Canada, Alzheimer’s dementia deaths in Canada were ranked 9th for the leading cause of death. In comparison, cerebrovas-cular diseases were ranked as the 5th leading cause of death in Canada. It is interesting to observe that there is a likely correlation between Alzheimer’s dementia and cardiovascu-lar disease, especially pertaining to the brain. Vascular dementia is a decline in cognitive ability caused by conditions that reduce blood flow to the brain and its specific regions. As a result, this deprives the neural cells of oxygen and nutrients (Alzheimer’s Association, n.d.). Vascular dementia is the second most common type of dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common (Alzheimer’s Society, n.d.). About 5-10% of people with dementia have vascular dementia alone; however, many experts believe that vascular dementia remains underdiag-nosed even though it is recognized as common. It can be very common if you refer to the number of cardiovascular diseases that are prevalent that could be the underlying factors to vascular dementia and potentially Alzheimer’s Disease. Looking at cardiovascular disease by the numbers, nearly 1 in 4 aged 20-79 had hypertension 140/90 in a report from According to the CDC, only one in four adults with hypertension have their condition under control. DR. ROMI FUNG, ND, M.SC, PH.D (CAND.) is a naturopathic physician practicing in Richmond, BC. A graduate of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, Romi helps patients living with dementia improve their quality of life by taking an integrative and functional approach; he believes that what happens in the body can also happen in the brain and there are several biochemical connections from chronic diseases correlated to cognitive decline. On top of his practice, Romi is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Aging and Health at Queen’s University, an Adjunct Clinical Faculty, and Academic Faculty teaching Traditional Asian Medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine – Boucher Campus. DrRomiFungND.com 6 Chiropractic and Naturopathic Doctor September/October 2022 2012-2015 (Statistics Canada, 2020). According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), only one in four adults with hypertension have their condition under control (CDC, 2022). With the uprise in cardiovas-cular diseases that coincide with the uprise in dementia cases, could they potentially be more correlated? Cardio-vascular disease was associated with a double risk of demen-tia, and more than three-fold increased risk of vascular de-mentia (Eriksson et al., 2010). Current conventional measures still focus on the idea of treating dementia using antipsychotics and pharmaceuticals without looking at underlying factors. Rather than putting the entire emphasis on the brain itself, a clinician should identify underlying factors that contribute to the brain, in-cluding cardiovascular health. The brain is a very vascular organ; although it consists of 2% of our body weight, the brain receives 20% of the body’s blood supply (Dafny, 2020). There is growing evidence that there is a significant cor-relation between high blood pressure and incidence in de-mentia. In the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study where 3734 Japanese-American men were observed over a couple dec-ades, researchers found that for every 10mmHg increase in systolic blood pressure, there was a nine percent increase in risk of cognitive impairment (Gelber et al., 2012). In other words, those who suffer from Stage 2 hypertension, or have www.Cndoctor.ca Photo: paul_craft/Adobe stock
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