Alzheimer’s risk reduced by healthy living: study

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDJul 20 2011

According to a new study leading a healthy lifestyle can help prevent Alzheimer's disease. Researchers said at Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Paris on Tuesday that the number of Alzheimer's cases could be cut in half if people exercise, eat well and stop smoking. Other risks include depression, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.  Education is also a factor, because illiteracy keeps brains from developing properly. The new findings have been published in the journal Lancet Neurology.

The study finds that the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer's diseases and over half of all cases are potentially preventable through simple lifestyle changes. Alzheimer’s disease affects half of all people over age 85 - an estimated 5.2 million Americans and the cause of Alzheimer's remains unclear.

Deborah Barnes, a mental health research at the San Francisco VA Medical Center said, “It suggests these modifiable risk factors might make a huge difference in those projections.” She added, “The next step is to do the clinical trials that ask, ‘If we change a risk factor, will it reduce rates of dementia?’”

According to Alzheimer's Association president William Fisher this study is “another brick in the wall suggesting that Alzheimer's doesn't have to be passive thing that we wait to come get us. There are life modifiers that may reduce our risk.” There are many reasons to follow practices to improve general health -- such as a good diet, exercising and keeping mentally engaged, he noted. Even if there are no guarantees it will protect against the degenerative brain disease, it might delay its onset. “All of these things are good for us anyway,” he said. He warned however, “A lot of people are going to do everything right, and they'll still get Alzheimer's disease. We have to be careful not to blame the victim.”

The study found that the biggest changeable factor in the United States is physical inactivity -- accounting for 21 percent of the risk, followed by depression and smoking. When added together, these risk factors account for about 50 percent of the cases. If these risk factors were decreased by just 10 percent, about 184,000 Alzheimer's in the U.S., and 1.1 million cases worldwide could be prevented, according to the study.