Healthy lifestyle against dementia
A healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of Alzheimer's by at least a third
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
New research conducted in the UK and the USA confirms that exercise, proper nutrition and giving up bad habits significantly reduce the risk of dementia. The effect is noticeable even in those who received an unsuccessful set of genes from their parents.
Despite years of searching, scientists have not yet been able to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. Nevertheless, there are ways to prevent a deadly disease. According to two new studies reported by the University of Exeter Healthy lifestyle may offset genetic risk of dementia, a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of age-related dementia and cognitive functions even in the case of genetic predisposition.
The first team representing the University of Exeter studied the genomes of 200,000 adults taken from the British Biobank. Based on previous studies, the scientists calculated a polygenic risk assessment of Alzheimer's disease for each of them. Then the participants' lifestyle was assessed – the frequency of physical activity, diet and attitude to smoking and alcohol.
The analysis predictably showed that people with a high genetic predisposition and an incorrect lifestyle were much more likely to develop dementia than those who took care of their health and inherited "successful" genes. However, the authors of the work managed to make a more interesting conclusion.
It turned out that a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of dementia regardless of genetic predisposition.
It has been found that the absence of bad habits, proper nutrition and physical activity reduce the likelihood of age-related cognitive disorders by 32% in the group with a high genetic risk.
Thus, although we cannot change our own genes yet, heredity can be compensated by the right way of life.
The second study conducted in Rush University, was devoted to a more detailed analysis of the links between habits and Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have been monitoring the condition of 2,000 volunteers for nine years. At the same time, the same factors were taken into account as in the work mentioned above: smoking cessation, diet, exercise and limited alcohol consumption, plus mental training.
After studying the collected data, the authors concluded that meeting at least four of the five conditions of a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by 60%.
Researchers believe that the promotion of health care can significantly reduce the incidence of age-related cognitive disorders.
The fight against Alzheimer's disease is impossible without an effective diagnosis. According to a number of researchers, it is possible to detect the disease at the earliest stages by analyzing the condition of the eyes and the features of visual perception.
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