Elderly people who are active show better intellectual health than those who are inactive, says the latest study.

Researchers led by neurosurgeon Elizabeth Bullitt at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, used non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR) angiography to examine brain blood vessels in elderly people, aged between 60 and 80 years.

The subjects were divided into two groups. The high activity group reported participating in an aerobic activity for a minimum of 180 minutes per week for the past 10 consecutive years.

The low activity group told they had no history of regular exercise and currently spent less than 90 minutes a week in any physical activity. The researchers did not know into which group participants were placed.

Aerobically active subjects exhibited more small-diameter vessels with less twisting, than the less active group, exhibiting a vessel pattern similar to younger adults. Significant differences in the left and right middle cerebral artery regions were identified, which was confirmed by more than one statistical analysis.

The brain's blood vessels naturally narrow and become more tortuous with advancing age, but the study showed the cerebral-vascular patterns of active patients appeared younger than those of relatively inactive subjects.

The results will be published in the July edition of the American Journal of Neuroradiology.