That fear has resulted in a budding industry for brain training products - exercises such as Brain Age, Mindfit and My Brain Trainer - which in 2007 generated $80 million in the United States alone.

The premise of brain training is simple: participants must complete a series of daily exercises such as mental calculation, memorization and enigmas to help increase cognitive ability and avoid certain neurodegenerative diseases. Some companies like Brain Center International, which produces NeuroActive, promise regular users they'll shave 10 years of brain aging after eight weeks of use. Is it surprising some 10,000 copies of the product were sold in Quebec in the last six months?

"To my knowledge, there is no scientific research demonstrating results from such recreational programs," says Sylvie Belleville, a professor at the Universit?© de Montr?©al' Department of Psychology and associate research director of the Institut universitaire de g?©riatrie de Montr?©al.

According to Belleville, the principles of intellectual stimulation aren't false, but their efficiency haven't been scientifically proven. She argues that Sudoku and crosswords could work just as well.

Yet there are programs that exist that have been proven to benefit seniors and Alzheimer's victims, according to Belleville: "These programs are based on memory strategies. They have nothing to do with the repetitive exercises offered by NeuroActive and others," she says.

While memory products can be helpful, Belleville warns against the unrealistic expectations some may provide. The advertising of these products, she stresses, "Could give false hopes. If someone doesn't see a change they could quit and it could eventually lead to depression."

In her opinion, the best way to keep one's cerebral functions is to do intellectual activities, eat well, control vascular factors, particularly in the case of diabetes and hypertension, and remain physically active.

umontreal/

The relation between migraine and stroke was the strongest, and this is consistent with a previous analysis in the same sample of women from 2000-1 which found that migraine was associated with a 17-fold increased risk of pregnancy related stroke. However, stroke in pregnancy is very rare (around four cases per 100,000 births), so this relative increase is not as alarming as it might seem, and these results will not apply to every woman with migraine during pregnancy. Nevertheless, for pregnant women admitted to hospital with active migraines, doctors should recognise and help to reduce cardiovascular risk factors and should treat complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia.

The authors suggest that the most logical explanation for these findings lies in the interaction between migraines and the normal physiological changes during pregnancy (such as increased blood volume and heart rate) which put extra stress on the vascular system.

But regardless of the mechanism, active migraine during pregnancy could be viewed as a potential marker of vascular diseases, especially stroke, they say.

Although cause and effect still need to be established, the results of this study lay the groundwork for future studies related to migraine and pregnancy, they conclude.

bma