Can the shingles vaccine lower the risk of dementia? (EP19)

<p>Today’s <strong>Brain Booster</strong> was prompted by a <strong>whether question</strong> from Maya: My doctor said that the shingles vaccine can reduce the risk of dementia. I’d like to know <strong>whether </strong>this is true, and if so, why?</p><p>Yes — there is strong and growing real-world evidence from major epidemiological studies </p><p>showing that the shingles vaccine is linked to a significant reduction in dementia risk. </p><p>Shingles is a painful, blistering viral infection caused by re-activation of the chicken pox virus. That means you can only get shingles if you’ve had chicken pox. The virus infects cells around the spinal cord, and even after your chicken pox clears, the virus stays dormant in your nerve tissue. </p><p>In many people, the virus stays asleep for their entire life and never gives them any trouble. However, if your immunity declines for any number of reasons, you can get re-activation, and the second time around, it doesn’t cause chicken pox, it causes shingles. </p><p>So today’s <strong>Brain Booster</strong> is: <strong>do what you can to Shun Shingles</strong>. And getting the shingles vaccine is one effective way to <strong>shun shingles</strong>. </p><p><br /></p><p>* * * * *</p><p><br /></p><p>Today’s <strong>HEALTH HEADLINE</strong> is: <strong>both men and women who receive the shingles vaccine have a lower risk of dementia. But the risk reduction in women is significantly greater than that for men. </strong></p><p>Why?</p><p>Two simple reasons have been proposed.</p><p>The first is that women generally mount a more robust immune response to vaccinations than men, and the second reason is that dementia — particularly Alzheimer’s — is twice as common in women as in men. So if women face a higher baseline vulnerability to the disease, any medical intervention that successfully reduces brain inflammation or viral damage, is going to have a bigger statistical impact on them. </p><p>But the most important question is: what causes reactivation of the Zoster Varicella virus in the first place? </p><p>Tune in to discover the unexpected things that can weaken our immune defences and allow the virus to cause a painful outbreak of shingles. </p><p><br /></p><p>* * * * *</p><p><br /></p><p><strong>What’s missing from modern medicine </strong>is<strong> accurate advice on maintaining a robust immune system.</strong></p><p>Forget high dose vitamin C, echinacea, and any number of supplements purported to ‘boost’ your immune