Think before you scrape: Lead-based paint can be a threat to your brain, so remove it properly.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—While we tend to think of lead poisoning as a threat to children, it turns out the toxic metal affects adults as well. A new study published in the journal Neurology finds that adults with high lead levels are at higher risk for developing dementia, and provides more reasons than ever why we should limit lead exposure throughout life to protect our brains when we get older.

THE DETAILS: Lead accumulates in your bones throughout your life. And as those bones deteriorate with age, the metal gets released into your bloodstream, where it travels to your heart and brain. The potential effects of that were studied in 47 adults between 55 and 67 years old. Researchers measured the lead levels in their bones; then, the participants took a series of tests often used to assess people suspected of suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment, a condition found in people at high risk for dementia. After adjusting for factors that influence mental performance (such as alcohol use or history of depression), they found that people with higher lead levels scored lower on the cognition tests. Among those who had higher-than-average lead levels, 21 percent had scores that indicated mild cognitive impairment. Also, lead levels tended to be higher in people who suffered from high blood pressure, itself a risk factor for dementia. Previous research suggests high levels of lead in older adults raise their risk for cardiovascular disease.

WHAT IT MEANS: “There is no safe level of lead for children, and no safe level of lead exposure for adults,” says the study’s lead author Edwin van Wijngaarden, PhD, chief of the division of epidemiology in the department of community and preventive medicine and director of undergraduate public health-related programs at the University of Rochester in New York. In addition to raising blood pressure, lead can cause oxidative stress on the brain and increase inflammation in the body, says Wijngaarden, both of which have been linked to Alzheimer’s in previous research. (Oxidative stress is a chemical reaction that can poison and kill brain cells.) “We need to limit lead exposure as much as we can,” says Wijngaarden. “It’s not just children, it’s also adults.” And once lead gets into your system, there’s nothing you can do to get rid of it, he adds. So it’s important for people of all ages to avoid lead exposure.