The Times of London covers Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson’s hypothesis linking lead exposure and dementia

Professor Esme Fuller-Thomson speculates that declining dementia rates may be a result of generational differences in lifetime exposure to lead. Her hypothesis was recently published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. University of Toronto pharmacy student ZhiDi (Judy) Deng, co-authored the article.

“While the negative impact of lead exposure on the IQ of children is well-known, less attention has been paid to the cumulative effects of a lifetime of exposure on older adults’ cognition and dementia,” says Fuller Thomson, director of the Institute of Life Course and Aging and professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. “Given previous levels of lead exposure, we believe further exploration of the of this hypothesis is warranted.”

Fuller-Thomson’s hypothesis has been covered by The Times of London and The London Economic.

Read the full press release on EurekAlerts!