Originally published June 29 2005
Healthy lifestyles may prevent Alzheimer's disease
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
New evidence suggests that simple lifestyle changes can decrease your risk of Alzheimer's disease. Activities like social engagements, watching what you eat and drink, and regular exercise may help decrease the risk of dementia.
A stream of studies suggests that simple lifestyle activities such as being socially engaged and watching how you eat, drink and exercise may have an effect on risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
Several of these studies are being highlighted Sunday at the first Alzheimer's Association International Conference on the Prevention of Dementia in Washington, D.C.
"It's exciting that we can even hold a prevention conference," said William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association during a Tuesday teleconference.
Previous reports had shown that late-life social engagement seemed to be protective against dementia.
A low level of midlife social activity, on its own, was not associated with an increased risk of dementia, the researchers report.
However, any decline in social activity from midlife into late-life did seem to raise dementia risks, the team found, as did poor social engagement in late life.
The findings suggest that the process of developing dementia impacts negatively on social relationships, rather than the other way around.
"The proposed mechanism is overall mental stimulation and increased brain reserve -- how interconnected your neurons are and how much insult you can take before you start seeing changes," Saczynski said.
A second study found that older Japanese-Americans who drank fruit or vegetable juices at least three times a week lowered their risk of developing Alzheimer's by 75 percent, compared with people who drank these juices less than once a week.
According to researchers at the University of South Florida College of Public Health in Tampa, Vitamin E, C and beta-carotene supplements did not have a similar effect, however.
Among 500 adult children of people with Alzheimer's, exercise and moderate alcohol consumption were associated with better performance on several cognitive measures, reported researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School.
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