Posted on 02/23/2023 12:11:42 PM PST by ConservativeMind
People who regularly use laxatives may have more than a 50% increased risk of developing dementia over people who do not use laxatives, according to a study.
Researchers also found that people who used only osmotic laxatives, a type of laxative that attracts water to the colon to soften stool, had an even greater risk. Other types of laxatives are bulk-forming, stool-softening, and stimulating. However, the study does not prove that laxatives cause dementia. It only shows an association.
Feng Sha, Ph.D.: "Regular laxative use may change the microbiome of the gut, possibly affecting nerve signaling from the gut to the brain or increasing the production of intestinal toxins that may affect the brain."
Sha noted osmotic and stimulant laxatives are not recommended for regular use, yet some people use them regularly.
The study involved 502,229 people. Regular use was defined as using a laxative most days of the week during the month before the study.
Over an average of 10 years, 218 of those who regularly used laxatives, or 1.3%, developed dementia. Of those who did not regularly use laxatives, 1,969 people, or 0.4%, developed dementia.
After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, education, other illnesses and medication use, and a family history of dementia, researchers found people who regularly used laxatives had a 51% increased risk of overall dementia compared to people who did not regularly use laxatives.
The risk of dementia also increased with the number of laxative types used. For people using one type of laxative, there was a 28% increased risk, compared to a 90% increased risk for people taking two or more types of laxatives.
However, among people using only one type, only those taking osmotic laxatives had a heightened risk, with a 64% increase compared to those who did not use laxatives.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
Well, there are several kinds of laxatives.
Some can stimulate the bowel. Osmotics pull liquid together to soften poo, similar to how it happens if left in the toilet. Stool softeners help water and fat get absorbed into poo. Mineral oil slickens it to slide out (apparently, don’t use mineral oil with Senacot, though, and I would imagine it is like water and oil to use it with Miralax, so that probably doesn’t help). Dietary fiber has several ways of working, between soluble and insoluble fiber.
More on those, here:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/dont-bomb-the-bowel-with-laxatives
I hope that helps.
Maybe people with dementia have an increased risk of using laxatives.
That’s what the pot people said. “Smoking pot doesn’t cause mental illness, people with mental illness self treat with pot.”
Narcotics can cause constipation... could this be the actual cause of dementia?
There’s always sugar free gummy bears.
I wonder how the statisticians allowed for and ruled out the “other illness” of constipation.
I assume the main laxative was magnesium, which is considered to be the safest of all laxatives. This troubles me.
Is the laxative causing dehydration resulting in brain shrinkage? I readily await further studies to address these issues.
What percentage of the population sampled were Democrats?
Why doesn’t the study prove that “people who have dementia need to use laxatives”.
The study covered ten years and none had dementia at the start.
My somewhat sarcastic point is that correlation does not prove causation. This is a common problem with many ‘studies’. In addition, as among the ‘aged’ myself, I’m well aware that not having any outward signs of impending dementia doesn’t mean that it hasn’t started. After spending many decades of ‘close calls’, I’m far more cautious in doing almost everything, than I was when I was 20. What’s the difference between caution and dimentia?
It is true correlation is not proving causation, but they did attempt to subtract out other confounders.
So it becomes rather more likely this correlation could actually show causation.
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