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Aging May Tinker With Thirst
With age, thirst nerves may not work as well, paving the
way for dehydration
By
Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical
news
Scientists have a new clue about why the elderly may be
vulnerable to dehydration.
Age-related changes in certain nerves in the mouth,
throat, and stomach may be the problem.
A new
study shows that healthy men in their 20s or 60s get
equally thirsty when injected with salt water. But older
men drank half as much water as younger men to slake
their thirst.
The men
got brain scans using positron emission tomography (PET)
during the experiment. Those brain scans showed
different patterns of activity in brain areas related to
thirst.
While
the men drank water to soothe their thirst, the PET
scans showed less activity in a certain brain area in
the older men than in the younger men.
That may
mean that the nerves that carry the "I'm thirsty!"
signal from the mouth, throat, and stomach don't work as
well with age.
It may
be a good idea to schedule drinking to reduce the
chances of elderly dehydration, note the researchers.
They included Gary Egan, PhD, of the Howard Florey
Institute at Australia's University of Melbourne.
Their
findings appear in this week's early online edition of
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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