Brain health and blood flow

Recent headlines declared that a study of 670,000 men showed that the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra significantly cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by around 18%. That followed a 2021 study in Nature Aging from Dr. Mike’s Cleveland Clinic that found that taking Viagra blocked the attachment of AD-associated amyloid and tau protein to neurons (brain cells) and was associated with a 69% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s in men. The reduced dose of the drug that some women take for pulmonary hypertension was associated with a 22% reduced risk of AD.

Fortunately, you do not have to be a guy struggling with ED or a woman struggling with pulmonary hypertension to get the cognition benefits that come from increased blood flow throughout your body and brain — which is another beneficial effect of taking Viagra.

Improving your blood pressure, reducing your lousy LDL cholesterol to a healthy level, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking (anything), getting plenty of physical activity and enough quality sleep, and eating a plant-based diet — while cutting out red meat, highly processed foods, added sugars, syrups and saturated fats — can help prevent constricted blood flow and help protect your brain, whether you’re a guy or gal, young or old.

Whatever the beneficial effect or effects of the active ingredient in Viagra are, you can get some of them today, drug-free, by following the age-reversing, life-extending suggestions at LongevityPlaybook.com and diving into Dr. Oz’s outline for healthy living, “Dr. Oz’s 9-Step Daily Wellness Routine,” at iHerb.com.

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of www.longevityplaybook. com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to www.iHerb. com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively.