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23 January 2015 - ScienceDaily - Lead negatively impacts cognitive functions of boys more than girls

The female hormones estrogen and estradiol may help ward off the effects of lead exposure for young girls, explaining why boys, are shown to suffer more often from the cognitive disabilities linked to lead.

Web URL: Read the full news item on the ScienceDaily website here

FAB RESEARCH COMMENT:

The study is published online in the Journal of Environmental Health, currently no abstract available.

For more information on lead, please see: 

10 June 2014 - MedicalXpress - Lead abatement a wise economic, public health investment

See also: 


21 April 2014 - BBC News - Did removing lead from petrol spark a decline in crime? 

One of the researchers interviewed for this BBC news article was Dr Bernard Gesch - a Senior Research Scientist at the University Lab of Physiology, Oxford, and Founder of the research charity Natural Justice, which he set up to investigate causes of criminal antisocial behaviour - including lead.  

One of the people who helped Bernard significantly in this work was the late Professor Derek Bryce-Smyth - who pioneered the recognition of lead's neurotoxicity, and the drive to ban lead from petrol.

Dr. Bernard Gesch spoke at the Food and Behaviour Research event in London 

10 July 2014 - Sugar, Fat, Food and Addiction: New Approaches to the Public Health Crisis

 

"The study supports existing research suggesting that estrogen and estradiol in females may act as neuroprotectants against the negative impacts of neurotoxins," said Maya Khanna, Ph.D., a psychology professor in Creighton University's College of Arts and Sciences. "The findings also add to the evidence that lead exposure has a negative impact on cognitive functioning, especially those functions housed within frontal areas of the brain. Executive functions are controlled largely by the prefrontal cortex, while reading skills rely more heavily on the temporal or parietal areas of the cerebral cortex."

Khanna found that boys with elevated blood lead levels tested poorly on executive function, including memory and attention, while the effects of lead on girls were much less pronounced.

Unlike previous research, Khanna's study is the first to indicate that very young children already suffer the negative consequences of lead exposure and that the cognitive consequences of lead exposure are more severe for boys than girls.

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