Your Blood Type May Help You From Cognitive Decline

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Link to Article: http://neurosciencenews.com/blood-type-cognitive-decline-2087/

Summary: In the article “Your Blood Type May Help You From Cognitive Decline” posted by Neuroscience News explains how different blood types are associated with how much gray matter is in the brain. A study conducted at the University of Sheffield has found different blood types correlate with how much grey matter in the brain some will have. The more grey matter a person has in their brain the more resistant they will be to diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The study examined the MRI scans of 189 healthy volunteers. The researchers found that people with type O blood have more grey matter on the back side of the cerebellum. Blood types A, B and AB had smaller portions of grey matter in their temporal and limbic regions. Which these regions are the earliest parts of the brain to be damaged by Alzheimer’s.


Reflection: We are currently learning in class about the brain and how neurons work in the brain. The white matter in the brain is the myelinated neurons and the grey matter is the unmyelinated cell bodies. This makes me wonder if this is because a person with more cell bodies are able to make more connections than someone with less cell bodies (grey matter), or if a person with more grey matter has a harder time for damage to be done to those parts of the brain because that area of the brain has greater amount of grey matter. I enjoyed reading this article and now am interested to see if anybody in my family has an O blood type. This research could definitely help us to predict if a person will be prone to getting Alzheimer’s and could change the way we look at Alzheimer’s.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 16, 2018 at 9:58 AM

    This article is interesting to me not just because I had no idea that blood type could have any affect on the amount of gray matter in the brain but also because I have Type O blood. As far as I know, I am the only person in my immediate family that has Type O blood so it would be interesting to find out if anyone else in my family has the same blood type. I am also in agreement when it comes to the questions you have in your reflection as to why this is. I read in another article that Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease that affects mainly gray matter in the brain, so maybe it is the case that individuals who have more gray matter aren't as affected due to the amount they have. But, it also bring's me to the question that if an individual with Type O blood develops Alzheimer's, would their damage eventually be greater if most of the gray matter was affected?

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  2. UnknownMarch 20, 2018 at 11:38 AM

    I have read and learned about many things that may contribute to Alzheimer's disease. I learned in my Human Development class that aluminum may have contributed to Alzheimer's disease. Reading this article was interesting to learn that blood type contributes to how much gray matter your brain has and how resistant you may be to Alzheimer's disease. My boyfriend's grandmother has Alzheimer's so it would be interesting to me to see if, in her case, her blood type and therefore gray matter may have had something to do with her disease.

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  3. UnknownMarch 26, 2018 at 1:37 PM

    This article seems alluring at first because it explains that your blood type may be a good predictor for a disease such as Alzheimer's, but it left me curious to know what exactly will be done with this knowledge. I found myself wanting to know more about the gray matter itself. I feel while it is an impressive finding, it seems to lack direction in regards to actually solving or decreasing the onset of Alzheimer's. While we do understand how one comes to acquire the blood type they have, we don't necessarily have much control over it. Unless we begin choosing mates based on blood type, I feel with a disease like Alzheimer's this may only be a menial factor.

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  4. Lior FaganApril 10, 2018 at 8:41 PM

    In my Cognitive Psychology class, we briefly discussed neurons and the role of gray matter from a cognitive approach. The findings from this study demonstrate a peculiar association, that is, not a causal relationship between blood type and gray matter volume. I have glanced at some of the comments for this post, which question the seemingly clear connection between the blood type and the gray matter and the potential final outcome of Alzheimer's. It's incredibly important to keep in mind that the researchers simply found some sort of link between a blood type, gray matter volume, and vulnerability to Alzheimer's. This could be further explored, of course, if longitudinal studies were conducted on a considerable number of participants to track their vulnerability or development of Alzheimer's in relation to their blood type and gray matter volume. Since research has already confirmed the influence of several genes on Alzheimer's, no causal properties can be assigned to blood type or gray matter volume.

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