Healthier lifestyle reduces Alzheimer's risk

Millions of Alzheimer's diseases preventable by healthier lifestyle

07/15/2014

A healthier lifestyle could save millions of Alzheimer's disease worldwide. This suggests a new study. Therefore, seven factors contribute significantly to increasing the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Seven factors increase the risk
Although the causes of Alzheimer's disease have not yet been clearly established, a new study concludes that seven factors contribute significantly to increasing the risk of developing it. Researchers Carol Brown of the Department of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, UK, attribute diabetes, hypertension, obesity, physical inactivity, depression, smoking, and lack of education as a major contributor to Alzheimer's disease.

Number of Alzheimer's patients will increase worldwide
The results of the study, which was conducted in collaboration with Cambridge University, King's College London, and the University of San Francisco, are now in the journal „The Lancet Neurology“ been published. The study estimates that the number of Alzheimer's patients worldwide will increase from around 30 million in 2010 to around 106 million in 2050. The reasons for this would lie in the growth of the world population and longer life expectancy. According to the German Society for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology, about 1.4 million people in Germany are affected by dementia, with Alzheimer's disease being the most common dementia disorder.

Nine million Alzheimer's cases preventable
According to the study, 8.5 percent of the Alzheimer's cases expected in 2050, or around nine million, could be avoided worldwide if the risks were reduced by ten percent for each of the seven factors mentioned above. Study leader Brayne explained: „Even if there is no single way to prevent Alzheimer's, we can take action to reduce the risk.“ It is important factors for the development of the disease, which is favored according to previous findings, both by genetic preconditions as well as by external influences known. Brayne explained that it is important not to look at factors in isolation, but to consider relationships such as lack of exercise and being overweight. (Ad)