7 Lifestyle Factors Cause Half Of Alzheimer's Cases: Study

PARIS -- Taking care of your body just might save your mind. Millions of cases of Alzheimer's disease worldwide could be prevented by curbing risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, obesity and lack of exercise, new research suggests.

The study offers more than the usual pep talk about healthy living. Seven conditions or behaviors account for up to half of the 35 million cases of Alzheimer's around the world, it found. With no cure or treatment to reverse the mind-robbing disease, preventing new cases is crucial.

The study was presented Tuesday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in France, where sessions on prevention have been drawing standing-room-only crowds for several days.

"Prevention is a particularly attractive option given the state of therapy. That's why there's so much interest in it," said William Thies, the association's chief scientific officer.

The study was led by Deborah Barnes, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. Results also were published online by the British journal Lancet Neurology. The researchers have grants from the Alzheimer's Association and the U.S. National Institutes on Aging.

The study used a mathematical model to estimate the impact of top modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's disease: smoking, depression, low education, diabetes, too little exercise, and obesity and high blood pressure in mid-life.

How much of an impact each one has on total Alzheimer's cases depends on how common it is and how strongly it affects dementia risk. Researchers calculated the impact globally and just for the United States.

Worldwide, the biggest impact on Alzheimer's cases is low education, because illiteracy is so common, they found. Low education can be a sign of many factors that harm minds, such as poor nutrition. But it also is harmful by itself, because there is less opportunity to develop "brain power" that can carry you into old age.

"Education, even at a young age, starts to build your neural networks," so being deprived of it means less brain development, Barnes explained.

Smoking had the second biggest impact on cases worldwide, followed by too little exercise.

In the United States, however, inactivity is the leading problem because a third of the population is sedentary, Barnes said.

Depression made the next biggest impact on Alzheimer's cases in the U.S., followed by smoking and high blood pressure in mid-life. Untreated or inadequately treated depression has long been known to raise the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Reducing these seven risk factors by 25 percent could mean 3 million fewer cases of Alzheimer's worldwide, including half a million in the U.S., researchers estimated. Reducing risk factors by 10 percent would translate to 1.1 million fewer cases.

"It gives us a little bit of hope about things we could do now about the epidemic that is coming our way," Barnes said.

Alzheimer's cases are expected to triple by 2050, to around 106 million worldwide.

"We can do something about this," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, a Mayo Clinic dementia specialist who had no role in the study. A common misconception is that you're "dealt a deck of cards at birth," he said, but "people need not just sit back and watch this unfold."

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Comments

[defortier]

12:05 AM on 09/01/2011

This type of evidence, which is now plentiful, needs to replace the stale mantra of "better not to know if you are in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease". Clearly it is better to know so that risk factors can be managed and disease progression can be slowed. Careful attention to the modifiable risks noted in this article, together with social/intellectual stimulation and proper control of diabetes and hypertension is a robust and often effective approach to managing AD. When combined with approved drugs (a cholinesterase inhibitor plus Namenda) in a timely intervention, such an approach gives most patients a good chance to extend their independence and quality of life for a meaningful period of time. We discuss such themes daily at the Brain Today blog: www.BrainToday.com

[Lane Simonian]

01:20 PM on 07/23/2011

The fact that many healthy people get Alzheimer's disease does not negate the likelihood that a healthy lifestyle can help delay or prevent Alzheimer's disease for some people. Multiple factors can contribute to Alzheimer's disease, but peroxynitrite is the primary causal agent. Here is a short list of factors that increase peroxynitrite levels: high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, low levels of high density lipids, the APOE4 gene, presenilin gene mutations, bisphosphonate osteoporosis drugs, late estrogen replacement therapy, nicotine, mercury, and aluminium fluoride. Conversely, Omega 3-fatty acids and phenolic compounds (found in various vegetables, fruits, spices, and essential oils) impede peroxynitrite formation and thus can help prevent Alzheimer's disease (see Cole, et al. Prevention of Alzheimer's disease: Omega 3-fatty acid and phenolic anti-oxidant interventions). Moreover, by scavening peroxynitrites and by reversing their oxidation of receptors involved in memory ( muscarinic), smell (olfactory), serotonin (mood and sleep), dopamine (alertness), and behavior (adrenergic), phenolic compounds help to partially reverse the disease. Spice extracts, essential oils, and their constituents (such as cinnamon, Zataria multiflora Boiss., rosmarinic acid, and eugenol) have improved cognition in animal models of the disease. A few clinical trials with essential oils (see for instance, Jimbo, et al. Effect of aromatherapy on patients with Alzheimer's disease) and case studies (for example, the Texas State Research on Aromatherapy) have produced similar results in human beings. The time has come for Alzheimer's organizations and research institutions to embrace aromatherapy in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

[Pitbull57]

08:36 AM on 07/22/2011

ANy questions ?

[Pitbull57]

08:35 AM on 07/22/2011

You forgot the Biggest cause of this DISEASE as always,ALCOHOL,You always mention SMOKING,SMoking does not cause this....Fact : Alcohol shrinks the BRAIN in any AMOUNT,Alcohol gives you forgetfulness indeed............Stop Blaming SMOKING for THIS

[UnRed]

09:13 PM on 07/21/2011

So, it is NOT aluminum in our deodorants or not doing crossword puzzles or the lack of a higher education or...

Seems that, each year, they come out with an entirely *different* list of things that will keep you from getting Alzheimer's. I'm all for medical research BUT...dudes, when you change your mind every 12 months, ya kinda lose your credibility, ya know?? Wait til you can actually prove something, THEN tell us; not the other way around

[ChaCubed]

10:11 AM on 07/21/2011

Obesity and Alzheimers?

Exactly the opposite from what I've seen.

[BlackYowe]

01:15 AM on 07/21/2011

Depression is a risk factor but not a lifestyle choice.

[Tatanisha Frazier]

06:39 PM on 07/22/2011

i know right lol. i chose depression so therefore i increase my chances of getting AD.

[lizejane]

12:50 AM on 07/21/2011

In my mother's side of the family her father, 2 uncles, an aunt, 4 cousins and herself all have died from Alzeheimer's. The 'lifestyle' preventions you mention did NOTHING to curb it. My grandfather walked every day of his life, he didn't smoke, and he ate well until the big A struck. The cousins were healthy and active - waterskiing, walking, other sports or gardening and didn't smoke. All but one graduated from college. Not a single one of the 9 were overweight. My mom is the only one who smoked and was sedentary- she does have the worst dementia though. There is something going on besides your statistical factors. Since research shows the plaque buildup, something else is creating the plaque or causing it to adhere more than in the rest of the population.

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

08:19 AM on 07/21/2011

I always wonder about so called lifestyle choice associations. It is clear that cigarettes can cause heart disease and smoking However with alzheimers, do the lifestyle choices cause the alzheimers or do the very early manifestations of the disease cause the lifestyle choices. I I think these studies only think in one direction. It certainly can't hurt to advocate healthy lifestyle choices, but it explains only some of the cases. The nuns study also is interesting...as fewer of the nuns in the study get alzheimers. However the nuns lifestyle is so different from the typical womans, including bearing and raising children, etc., that it is difficult to isolate the exact factors that are the important factors. The study reminds me of all of the breast cancer studies. According to a bunch of them, my risk is almost non-existent and accoriding to others greatly increased.

[mapu]

04:27 PM on 07/20/2011

I am so glad to read this article. My grandparents had it and it seemed like my father was getting it before he died of something else. I did think my cards were already dealt. I'm glad that all of my exercise and taking care of myself and enriching my brain could be preventative.

Wait. What was the article about again?

[taxi648]

03:11 PM on 07/20/2011

Hogwash! Both of my parents had/have AD. My parents were high school graduates, my father went onto a trade school, both had low blood pressure, both were physically fit and thin, medications we minimal, Prilosec for my mother, and an oral diabetic medication for my father after being diagnosed with AD. My father (died at 86) smoked but quit, my mother never smoked. My mother, 85, worked for a major corporation doing their world wide retirement, and shopped at a local farmers' market for fresh produce and vegetables, exercised, and walked, walked, walked. My father took an asprin everyday that I can remember for minor aches and pains (another purported option to delay AD). My mother drank tea, my father drank coffee.
My mother's father also had Dementia and the only difference in the above senerio is he had heart problems and died at age 80 in 1980.

So I repeat, hogwash!

[DocHeather]

02:32 PM on 07/20/2011

The theme for today. Prevention!

[Rubyfoo]

11:41 PM on 07/19/2011

Once again, altogether now, Correlation Does Not Necessarily Mean Causation. There are many possible alternate explanations. It may be, and it may not be.

[darkmark]

12:48 PM on 07/24/2011

if we looked at different groups or people, countries, religions, professions, whatever and found differences those differences could be compared to the groups being studied and if there were similarities i would think it would be more causation than correlation. the world of people looks like a big lab for studying these problems.

[manicore]

07:03 PM on 07/19/2011

Check out the Newport interviews on Youtube they are exploring a connection between Coconut oil and Alzheimer's. Also Vitamin D is very important in fighting this disorder. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iScs0uzQZFk&playnext=1&list=PL8AB3004B11E5C8F2

[rpr]

11:34 AM on 07/19/2011

Where's nutrition in all this? There were studies that linked your fat intake to Alzheimer's too. A lack of unsaturated fatty acids, especially Omega-3s, was linked to Alzheimer's.

[colred]

02:40 PM on 07/19/2011

I think it is probably related to low education, depression, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. People with low education tend to have poor nutrition knowledge and habits. The Omega-3 lack is related to depression, high blood pressure and obesity. Because the study wasn't researching nutrition specifically, it wasn't mentioned. It is, however, certainly there.