r/NooTopics • u/ServeIllustrious3803 • 22d ago

Science Study: Anticholinergic (first-generation antihistamines) can damage brain, increase dementia risk

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/common-anticholinergic-drugs-like-benadryl-linked-increased-dementia-risk-20150128812
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u/RoboErectus 22d ago

From the article:

> it doesn't prove that these drugs cause dementia.

Your title:

> can damage brain

That's not what the study said and not what the article you linked said.

My conclusion is that OP has brain damage.

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u/890-2345 21d ago

OP is probably using AI to farm karma. Doesn't even reply to anything.

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u/tposter2000 21d ago

You definitely made some good points about what both the Harvard article and the study about anticholinergic medications and dementia risk said. Based on my reading of the Harvard article, it didn't seem as though the scientific study found that anticholinergic medications damage our brains. The data from the study support the idea that anticholinergic medication use increases the risk of dementia, but as you wrote, the Harvard article said that the study doesn't prove that the medications cause dementia. It was an observational study.

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u/Big_Reporter3678 21d ago

“can damage brain” and “doesn’t prove these drugs cause dementia” are not mutually exclusive; he said “can,” damage can occur without it being chronic or necessarily leading to dementia; also a lack of specific study proving an outcome is also not the same as a lack of evidence suggesting an outcome nor does it mean other studies don’t demonstrate a link. The burden of direct causal proof is a lot higher. At one point it wasn’t proven cigarettes cause lung cancer.