A group of scientists believe the brain metabolisms of women take longer to slow than men's, which could explain why they tend to stave off cognitive decline for longer.
Over time, the brain changes how it uses glucose, or sugar, as a process called aerobic glycolysis drops to low levels by the time we reach around the age of 60. Scientists wanted to map how the brain ages over time, and compare the chronological and metabolic ages of men and women.
The team found that women's brains appeared to be three years younger metabolically—known as neotenous—on average than men.
The researchers carried out their study by analyzing PET scans of 205 people, between the ages of 20 and 82, with healthy brains in order to use a sample representative of the human adult life span. The participants took part in six studies across the Washington University School of Medicine.
They researchers created algorithms to calculate the metabolic ages of the participants, which they compared to their chronological ages. They found that women's brains were more youthful as young adults, and the trend continued into old age.
Pointing to existing research, the team surmised that women's brains could be free from neurocongitive decline for longer for a number of reasons. One explanation could be that the genes involved in energy use could be less impacted by age in women, or that women don't experience the same loss of blood flow in the brain after puberty than men. Studies in rodents, meanwhile, suggested that estrogen could make the brain more adaptable to change.
Further research is needed to uncover whether the neoteny of women helps them to avoid neurodegenerative diseases.
Dr. Manu Goyal, senior author of the study and assistant professor of neurology and neuroscience at Washington University School of Medicine, provided some context for the findings, explaining in a statement: "It's not that men's brains age faster—they start adulthood about three years older than women, and that persists throughout life.
"What we don't know is what it means. I think this could mean that the reason women don't experience as much cognitive decline in later years is because their brains are effectively younger, and we're currently working on a study to confirm that."
Goyal said that while the differences between the brain age of men and women was "significant," it was "nowhere near as big a difference as some sex differences, such as height."
Next, the team will investigate why older women tend to score better on brain tests in areas including reason, memory and problem-solving than their male counterparts of the same age.
Dr. Michael Bloomfield, honorary consultant psychiatrist and head of the Translational Psychiatry Research Group at University College London, told Newsweek, "It is important that we don't draw unjustified conclusions from this study in terms of differences between men and women, but that doesn't take away the need to ask these questions.
"Ultimately, many studies keep showing that the differences between any two people tend to be negligible, and that the power of this type of study is in looking at large numbers of brain scans."
Last year, a separate study delving into a similar topic concluded that depression was associated with a faster decline in cognitive abilities, including memory and decision-making skills. The review of 34 studies was published in Psychological Medicine.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Kashmira Gander is Deputy Science Editor at Newsweek. Her interests include health, gender, LGBTQIA+ issues, human rights, subcultures, music, and lifestyle. Her ... Read more
