Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs Chinmaya IAS Academy – Current Affairs
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Good diet, adequate exercise could make a big difference: study
A healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia even in the presence of genes that raise the risk for these mind-destroying diseases, says a study. People with high genetic risk and poor health habits were about three times more likely to develop dementia when compared to those with low genetic risk and good habits, researchers reported on Sunday. Regardless of how much genetic risk someone had, a good diet, adequate exercise, limiting alcohol and not smoking made dementia less likely. “I consider that good news,” said John Haaga of the U.S. National Institute on Ageing, one of the study’s many sponsors. Results were discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles and published by the Journal of the American Medical Association . About 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type. Dr. Elzbieta Kuzma and colleagues at the University of Exeter Medical School in England used the U.K. Biobank to study nearly 2,00,000 people 60 or older with no signs or symptoms of dementia at the start. Their genetic risk was classified as high, medium or low based on dozens of mutations known to affect dementia. They also were grouped by lifestyle factors. After about eight years of study, 1.8% of those with high genetic risk and poor lifestyles had developed dementia versus 0.6% of folks with low genetic risk and healthy habits. “That means that with 95% of the mutations, your lifestyle will make a difference,” Dr. Tanzi said. One previous study in Sweden and Finland tested the effect of a healthy lifestyle by assigning one group to follow one and included a comparison group that did not. It concluded that healthy habits could help prevent mental decline. The Alzheimer’s Association is sponsoring a similar study now under way in the U.S.
