Combination of healthy lifestyle traits may substantially reduce Alzheimer’s

NIA Combining more goodly life style behaviors was associated with substantially lower risk for Alzheimer ’ south disease in a study that included data from closely 3,000 research participants. Those who adhered to four or all of the five specified healthy behaviors were found to have a 60 % lower gamble of Alzheimer ’ s. The behaviors were physical activity, not smoking, light-to-moderate alcohol consumption, a high-quality diet, and cognitive activities. Funded by the National Institute on Aging ( NIA ), depart of the National Institutes of Health, this research was published in the June 17, 2020, on-line issue of Neurology, the checkup journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“ This experimental study provides more evidence on how a combination of modifiable behaviors may mitigate Alzheimer ’ s disease risk, ” said NIA Director Richard J. Hodes, M.D. “ The findings strengthen the association between healthy behaviors and lower gamble, and add to the basis for control clinical trials to directly test the ability of interventions to slow or prevent development of Alzheimer ’ mho disease. ”
The research team reviewed data from two NIA-funded longitudinal study populations : The Chicago Health and Aging Project ( CHAP ) and the Memory and Aging Project ( MAP ). They selected participants from those studies who had data available on their diet, life style factors, genetics, and clinical assessments for Alzheimer ’ s disease. The resulting data pool included 1,845 participants from CHAP and 920 from MAP .
The researchers scored each participant based on five healthy life style factors, all of which have authoritative health benefits :

• At least 150 minutes per week of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity – Physical activity is an important part of healthy aging.
• Not smoking – Established research has confirmed that even in people 60 or older who have been smoking for decades, quitting will improve health.
• Light-to-moderate alcohol consumption – Limiting use of alcohol may help cognitive health.
• A high-quality, Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, which combines the Mediterranean diet and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet – The MIND diet focuses on plant-based foods linked to dementia prevention.
• Engagement in late-life cognitive activities – Being intellectually engaged by keeping the mind active may benefit the brain.

The research team then compared the scores with outcomes of clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer ’ south in the CHAP and MAP participants. lead writer of the newspaper, Klodian Dhana, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor at Rush University Medical Center, emphasized that the combination of goodly life style factors is key. He wrote that compared to participants with no or one goodly life style factors, the risk of Alzheimer ’ mho was 37 % lower in those with two to three, and 60 % lower in those with four to five healthy life style factors .
“ This population-based sketch helps paint the photograph of how multiple factors are likely playing parts in Alzheimer ’ s disease risk, ” said Dallas Anderson, Ph.D., program director in the Division of Neuroscience at NIA. “ It ’ s not a acquit induce and effect leave, but a hard receive because of the dual data sets and combination of modifiable life style factors that appear to lead to risk decrease. ”

A 2017 research follow-up and composition commissioned by NIA concluded that evidence on life style factors such as increasing forcible action, along with blood pressure management and cognitive educate, is “ encouraging although inconclusive ” for preventing Alzheimer ’ randomness. Since then, more research has emerged, such as the SPRINT MIND test, which suggests intensive blood coerce manipulate may slow age-related brain damage, and newly trials have launched. For exemplar :

• The NIA-funded MIND Diet Intervention to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease is an interventional clinical trial comparing parallel groups with two different diets. An NIA-funded collaboration between Rush University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham & Women’s Hospital (grant number R01AG052583). MIND has enrolled more than 600 participants and is ongoing with an anticipated completion date in 2021.
• The U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) is a multisite randomized clinical trial designed to evaluate whether lifestyle interventions — including the MIND diet — may protect cognitive function in older adults who are at increased risk for cognitive decline. NIA is funding the imaging, neurovascular, and sleep ancillary studies of POINTER.

NIA is presently funding more than 230 active clinical trials on Alzheimer ’ second and relate dementia. Of those, more than 100 are nondrug interventions, such as exercise, diet, cognitive train, sleep, or combination therapies. People interested in participating in clinical trials can find more information on the NIA web site .
The research in this study is funded by NIH grants R01AG054476, R01AG052583, P30AG10161, R01AG17917, R01AG11101, R01AG051635, RF1AG057532, and R01AG058679 .
About the National Institute on Aging (NIA) : NIA leads the U.S. federal government attempt to conduct and support research on aging and the health and wellbeing of older people. Learn more about age-related cognitive transfer and neurodegenerative diseases via NIA ’ s Alzheimer ‘s and related Dementias Education and Referral ( ADEAR ) Center web site. For information about a across-the-board crop of aging topics, visit the independent NIA web site and stay connected.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the state ‘s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the basal federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational aesculapian inquiry, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .
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References

Dhana K, et alabama. Healthy life style and the hazard of Alzheimer ’ s dementia : Findings from two longitudinal studies. Neurology. 2020 ; 95:1-10. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000009816