MAIL ONLINE: How high blood pressure can give you dementia (and what you should be doing to protect yourself)

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At best, these drugs merely slow down deterioration. ‘The truth is that every drug that’s been touted as a treatment that will reverse dementia has failed,’ says Tony Heagerty, a professor of medicine at the University of Manchester.A better understanding of this association could soon emerge with a study planned at the University of Manchester involving 41,000 people aged 70.

It will compare a group who have well-controlled blood pressure — less than 130 — with a group whose blood pressure is 140 or above — both groups will include people taking either blood pressure pills or a placebo.

‘It’s at about the age of 70 that people start to show signs of dementia, and we will be able to confirm quickly if there is a benefit in intensively reducing blood pressure in this older age group,’ says Professor Heagerty, who is leading the trial.