Healthy lifestyle reduces dementia risk, even in those genetically predisposed
UniSA research has revealed how much your physical health can affect your chances of dementia, in results that show “what’s good for your heart is good for your brain”.
Healthy living reduces the risk of dementia by a third, even in people with a strong family history or genetic predisposition to the condition, research shows.
UniSA was part of an international team that published the research on Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was also presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles.
UniSA Professor Elina Hypponen says the results support the notion that “what’s good for your heart is good for your brain”.
“Our results clearly show that it is possible to notably reduce the inherited dementia risk by our own actions,” she said.
“I was delighted to see that the lifestyle choices which appear to work against dementia are those which we know to be beneficial also for reducing the risks of other chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and cancer.”
Researchers considered no current smoking, regular physical activity, healthy diet and moderate alcohol consumption as “healthy”.
The study analysed data from 196,383 adults of European ancestry aged 60 and older from UK Biobank.
To assess genetic risk, the team looked at previously published data and identified all known genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.
They grouped participants into high, intermediate or low genetic risk for dementia and used self-reported information to assess lifestyle factors.
Researchers identified 1769 cases of dementia over eight years and found living a healthy lifestyle was associated with a reduced dementia risk across all genetic risk groups.