article image source: theguardian.com (link)

A study conducted in the United States revealed that frequent heading of the ball during soccer matches leads to profound changes within the brains of players, affecting memory and thinking.

The study, published in the scientific journal Neurology, compared more than 350 amateur soccer players with approximately 80 athletes who play non-contact sports.

The volunteers underwent brain scans to identify the movement of water molecules within specific brain folds.

The study revealed that players who consistently headed the ball during matches, more than 3,000 times a year, experienced disturbances in a thin layer surrounding the white matter near the cerebral cortex.

The research team from Fordham, Delaware, Columbia, and Albert Einstein universities in the United States also subjected the volunteers to tests to measure their thinking and memory abilities.

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Existing Risks

In statements to the scientific research website HealthDay, Dr. Michael Lipton of Columbia University said, "While exercise offers significant benefits, including the potential to mitigate cognitive decline, the frequent head impacts experienced during contact sports such as football may counteract these benefits."

The study team members stated that these findings do not prove a direct causal relationship between heading a ball and mental decline, but they do highlight some of the areas within the brain that may be at risk from heading.