Healthy lifestyle can reduce genetic high risk of dementia: study

According to new research, living healthily, with a good diet and regular exercise can have far more substantial benefits. The study says having a consistently healthy life can be helpful for people with a higher genetic susceptibility to dementia.
The study noted that the risk of dementia was reduced by 32% in people with a high genetic risk if they followed a healthy lifestyle when compared to those who had a comparatively unhealthy lifestyle.
The study even added that people with high-risk dementia and an unhealthy lifestyle were almost three times more likely to develop dementia than those who took an effort to lead a healthy lifestyle.
"Our findings are exciting as they show that we can take action to try to offset our genetic risk for dementia," said Elzbieta Kuzma, a researcher at the Britain's University of Exeter who co-led the study.
Dementia is defined as a brain-wasting disease that affects around 50 million people globally, with nearly 10 million new cases annually – a figure that is set to triple by 2050, according to the World Health Organisation.
The research team analysed data from almost 197000 adults of European ancestry between the age of 60 and older. They found 1769 cases dementia over a follow-up period of either year and grouped those cases into people with high, medium, low genetic risks for dementia.
To assess lifestyle, the researchers looked at the participants' self-reported diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Non-smokers who took regular exercise and had a good diet with moderate alcohol intake were considered to have the healthiest lifestyles - and these people were found to have reduced their risk whether they were in high, medium or low genetic risk groups.
David Llewellyn, also of Exeter University, said the findings held an important message that undermined what he described as "a fatalistic view of dementia". "Some people believe it's inevitable they'll develop dementia because of their genetics," he said. "(But) you may be able to substantially reduce your dementia risk by living a healthy lifestyle"