Scientists found undisputable connection between the hypertensive condition and the illness.

The European Society of Cardiologists recently peer-reviewed the findings of a study published in the European Heart Journal by a team of scientists from the Jagiellonian University Medical College in Krakow, Poland, which confirmed what has been suspected for a while – that high blood pressure may lead to dementia. 

The news is worrisome given that the hypertensive condition is also responsible for development of Alzheimer's disease, according to earlier research by the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

A release published on EurekAlert says the Polish researchers have learned in detail how high blood pressure affects specific regions of the brain and poses risks to its dysfunction. 

"Our study has, for the first time, identified specific places in the brain that are potentially causally associated with high blood pressure and cognitive impairment," study lead author Mateusz Siedlinski, a researcher at the Jagiellonian University Medical College was quoted as saying.

For their study, Siedlinski and his team analyzed the MRI brain scans and genetic data from more than 30,000 patients registered with the medical database UK Biobank.

By using Mendelian randomization method, they found that nine parts of the brain exhibited changes related to both hypertensive condition and a decline in the cognitive function. The results were then compared with the similar data from patients in Italy, in order to eliminate any doubt.

Further on, study co-author Tomasz Guzik, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Edinburgh, explains in the release: "In our study, if a gene that causes high blood pressure is also linked to certain brain structures and their function, then it suggests that high blood pressure might really be causing brain dysfunction at that location, leading to problems with memory, thinking and dementia."

The worst affected parts of the brain were the putamen and the anterior thalamic radiation. The putamen, located in the front, responds for the movement control and learning, while the other is in charge of executive functions like planning. Various regions of white matter, the tissue responsible for connecting different parts of the brain, were damaged too.

The researchers estimate that around 30 percent of the global population suffers from high blood pressure, which means a lot of people risk to develop dementia at a given time in their lives.

The findings thus turn high blood pressure into one of the worst health conditions among the most devastating diseases, including Alzheimer's - which cannot be cured at the moment.

Consuming whole grains at breakfast is one way to prevent or delay the hypertension as they lower the risk of heart diseases (as well as type 2 diabetes and cancer). Doctors also advise people to drink more water, avoid sugar and salt, and go in for sports.