| Boxer told that helmets do not prevent damage -
02-05-2007, 08:04 PM
Thousands of amateur boxers — who wear protective headgear and use larger gloves than professionals — may still be risking brain damage, Swedish researchers say.
A study of 14 fighters, presented at the American Academy of Neurology conference in Boston, found that the more often they were hit, the higher the levels of brain chemicals associated with damage.
By contrast, tests on football players who repeatedly headed the ball during matches found no evidence of similar brain damage.
The researchers, from the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, used lumbar puncture to measure levels of chemical markers for brain injury in the cerebrospinal fluid. The boxers were tested after a fight and again after a three-month rest. The study also included ten healthy men who were not athletes.
A particular marker for neuronal damage, known as neurofilament light, was found to be four times higher in boxers within ten days of a fight than in healthy nonathletes. Levels returned to normal after three months.
The increased levels after a fight were significantly higher among boxers who had received more than 15 high-impact hits to the head.  | 
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