The Washington Post (6/15, Blakemore) reports a study found that “a common genetic variant is linked to a doubled dementia risk for older men.” Researchers “focused on 12,174 Australians of European ancestry over age 70, and looked for variants in the HFE gene,” which is “critical to regulating the body’s iron levels.” They observed that patients who “carry two copies of the p. C282Y variant in the HFE gene can develop hemochromatosis, a condition that causes iron overload in the body.” They found that “men with two copies of the H63D HFE variant had a 2.39 higher incidence of dementia than those without variants in the HFE gene. No similar association was seen in women.” Researchers are unclear about the “difference in dementia risk between men and women,” but the overall results build “on earlier evidence that variants in the HFE gene may play a role in dementia.” The study was published in Neurology.   (SOURCE: APA Headlines)