Having a concussion may not be the only indicator of brain damage among football players. A recent study from the Cleveland Clinic and the University of Rochester reports that football players may experience long-term brain changes even if they haven’t suffered a concussion. The researchers studied 67 college football players and after each game, conducted brain scans and blood tests, to determine the extent of brain injury. In the blood, the researchers searched for S100B, a protein that is involved in regulating nerve growth that has been associated with certain neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as well as certain cancers. They found that the more hits the players received to the head, the higher the level of S100B that seeps into the bloodstream after an injury.
