A new US study has found a link between the exposure of pesticide DDT and the Alzheimer’s disease.
The study says that the people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease are likely to have presence of higher levels of a type of chemical, DDE, left by the pesticide DDT in their body than their healthy counterparts.
The researchers say, they have found evidence of DDT exposure in 80% of Alzheimer’s disease patients, as well as 70% of those without the condition.
Notably, DDT was phased out in the US in 1972. However, it is rampantly in use across the world. In such a scenario, health experts and global health authorities consider it a big health threat.
DDE, which is a long-lasting metabolite of DDT, was found nearly four times higher in Alzheimer’s patients than those without the disease.
The situation was more worrisome as high DDE levels also found to increase someone’s risk of Alzheimer’s fourfold, according to the study.
For the study, the researchers compared 86 Alzheimer’s patients to 79 people of advanced age. The participants of the study came from the US states of Texas and Georgia, and their average age was 74,
The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology.
