Exercising regularly, maintaining a nutritious diet and other factors associated with a healthy lifestyle may reduce one鈥檚 risk for developing dementia, even if genetic risk factors for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and related dementias are at play 鈥� That鈥檚 according to a first-of-its-kind study in The Journal of the American Medical Association and at the Alzheimer鈥檚 Association International Conference (AAIC) on Sunday.
In a field where scientists and medical professionals are working to better understand what causes Alzheimer鈥檚 and how it can be treated, the study鈥檚 results offer the public some actionable information to help minimize risk.
Researchers, led by the University of Exeter Medical School in England, analyzed data from nearly 200,000 participants, 60 years and older, who did not have cognitive impairment or dementia when they joined the UK Biobank study between 2006 and 2010. Participants were sorted based on multiple genetic risk factors for dementia (low risk, intermediate risk and high risk) and assigned a healthy lifestyle score (favorable, intermediate and unfavorable), based on self-reported data of physical activity levels, tobacco use, alcohol use and diet.
Some participants in the eight-year study did develop dementia. However, researchers found that a favorable lifestyle was associated with a lower dementia risk, even among those with a high genetic risk for developing dementia.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 matter if you were at high genetic risk, medium genetic risk or low genetic risk for dementia, the lifestyle variable was still predictive of whether you would get dementia or not,鈥� said Jonathan King, a program director in the division of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health, which helped to support the study.
鈥淸And that] is useful because a lot of times people think, 鈥榃ell, if I鈥檓 at high genetic risk for dementia or Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, it doesn鈥檛 matter what I do.鈥� And that鈥檚 not the takeaway message from this paper. This news suggests that the healthy lifestyle really still does have some benefit.鈥�
King said this latest study stands out from others that have looked at the impact of a healthy lifestyle on Alzheimer鈥檚 and dementia because of its size (previous cohorts have been significantly smaller) and the 鈥渟tate-of-the-art measures鈥� the researchers used to identify one鈥檚 genetic risk. Rather than the risk variable formed on one gene, such as the APOE, which is a with increased risk for Azheimer鈥檚, researchers looked at multiple genetic risk factors.
The states, 鈥淭o our knowledge, no previous study has investigated the association between a combination of lifestyle factors and multiple genetic risk factors and dementia incidence.鈥�
The study design does have a few limitations, however. The information used to assign each participant鈥檚 lifestyle score was based on self-reported data. The research was also conducted on a European population, and different races and ethnicities may yield different results.
鈥淏ut at present, this is the largest study we have that has a reasonably strong measure of genetic risk and a measure of lifestyle 鈥� This is the first time we鈥檝e had any confidence that there would be a positive contribution here,鈥� King said.
鈥淭he hope is now that we鈥檒l see many more attempts to replicate this in cohorts, in groups that are more representative of the U.S. population, and hopefully we鈥檒l know a lot more about what to tell people in terms of what truly is protective against dementia.鈥�
Other research presented at AAIC on the same topic showed that smoking may be a risk factor for cognitive aging in mid-life, even as early as 40, and alcohol use disorder can increase dementia risk in older women.
鈥淲hile there is no proven cure or treatment for Alzheimer鈥檚, a large body of research now strongly suggests that combining healthy habits promotes good brain health and reduces your risk of cognitive decline,鈥� Alzheimer鈥檚 Association Chief Science Officer Maria C. Carrillo said in a statement.
鈥淭he research reported today at AAIC gives us attainable, actionable recommendations that can help us all live a healthier life.鈥�
