Soccer may be harmful for your brain. Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Norway, obtained magnetic resonance images of the brains of 15 male soccer players and 17 male American football players -- all of them had been practising five times a week for years. Eleven soccer players had one to 39 tiny spots on their brains, whereas seven football players had an average of seven spots. The spots may represent scar tissue or fluid filled spaces that form when brain tissue breaks down after head trauma. Researchers associated the spots with a slight decline in mental abilities in elderly and middle aged people (Discover , Vol 18, No 8).
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