Tag: decline

Healthy lifestyle, diet linked to slower memory decline

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A study found a link between healthy lifestyles and slower memory decline in older adults. Shestock/Getty Images
  • Researchers followed 29,072 older adults (60 years old and over) over 10 years to investigate the link between lifestyle choices and memory loss.
  • They found a link between a healthy lifestyle and slower memory decline, even in the presence of the APOE Ɛ4 gene, which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
  • The researchers hope their findings will inform public health initiatives seeking to prevent memory loss in older adults.

The gradual loss of thinking abilities such as memory, reasoning, and psychomotor speed is a natural part of aging. However, studies such as the FINGER clinical trial have shown that it is possible to prevent cognitive decline through lifestyle improvements.

The impact of lifestyle factors on memory has been the subject of many studies. However, previous research typically focused on a single lifestyle factor, such as diet, physical activity, smoking, or drinking. Understanding the combined effect of multiple lifestyle factors on memory decline is important.

For this reason, Dr. Jianping Jia, Ph.D., neurologist and professor at Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, and his colleagues investigated the combined effects of six lifestyle factors on memory decline in a large study population over a 10-year period.

In an interview with Medical News Today, Dr. Jia said:

“[E]ffective strategies for protecting against memory decline may benefit a large number of older adults. Our results showed that adherence to a combination of healthy lifestyle behaviours was associated with a slower memory decline in older adults, including those genetically susceptible to memory decline.”

The results of the study appear in the BMJ.

Dr. Richard J. Caselli, professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic, who was not involved in the study, described the study as “well done and generally supportive of findings from studies such as the FINGER study, this time in a Chinese population.”

The researchers recruited 29,072 study participants from North, South, and West China aged 60 or older with typical cognitive functions. Their mean age was 72.2 years, and 51.5% were men.

Genetic testing at baseline showed that 20.43% of the study participants were carriers of the APOE ε4 gene, the strongest known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

The researchers followed up with the participants at intervals over the next 10 years, in 2012,

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Six life style selections to gradual memory decline named in 10-12 months study | Memory

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A blend of healthful way of life options this kind of as eating properly, regularly doing exercises, taking part in playing cards and socialising at minimum twice a week may assist sluggish the price of memory decline and lower the threat of dementia, a 10 years-very long analyze suggests.

Memory is a fundamental functionality of day-to-day existence that continuously declines as folks age, impairing high-quality of life and productivity, and growing the danger of dementia.

Proof from previous exploration has been inadequate to examine the result of healthy life style on memory trajectory, but now a examine indicates that combining numerous balanced lifestyle decisions – the a lot more the much better – is connected with softening the speed of memory decrease.

“A blend of beneficial balanced behaviours is connected with a slower amount of memory decline in cognitively regular older grownups,” researchers from the Countrywide Centre for Neurological Conditions in Beijing, China, wrote in the BMJ.

Practising multiple healthful life-style choices collectively “was related with a reduced chance of progression to mild cognitive impairment and dementia”, they additional.

Scientists analysed 29,000 adults aged about 60 with normal cognitive purpose who were being section of the China Cognition and Aging Review.

At the start out of the study in 2009, memory operate was calculated using checks and individuals ended up checked for the APOE gene, which is the strongest risk-aspect gene for Alzheimer’s illness. The subjects have been then monitored for 10 years with periodic assessments.

A healthier life-style rating combining 6 components was calculated: a nutritious food plan common exercising energetic social contact cognitive action non-using tobacco and not drinking alcoholic beverages.

Primarily based on their score, ranging from zero to six, contributors have been place into life-style teams – favourable (4 to six balanced factors), ordinary (two to 3 nutritious things), or unfavourable ( to 1 nutritious elements) – and into APOE-carrier and non-provider teams.

A wholesome food plan was deemed as feeding on the advised consumption of at the very least 7 out of 12 foodstuff teams: fruits, vegetables, fish, meat, dairy, salt, oil, eggs, cereals, legumes, nuts and tea.

Composing, examining, participating in cards or other video games at the very least 2 times a 7 days was the 2nd space of balanced conduct.

Other locations incorporated drinking no alcohol, working out for much more than 150 minutes a 7 days at reasonable depth or

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Association between healthy lifestyle and memory decline in older adults: 10 year, population based, prospective cohort study

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Abstract

Objective To identify an optimal lifestyle profile to protect against memory loss in older individuals.

Design Population based, prospective cohort study.

Setting Participants from areas representative of the north, south, and west of China.

Participants Individuals aged 60 years or older who had normal cognition and underwent apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping at baseline in 2009.

Main outcome measures Participants were followed up until death, discontinuation, or 26 December 2019. Six healthy lifestyle factors were assessed: a healthy diet (adherence to the recommended intake of at least 7 of 12 eligible food items), regular physical exercise (≥150 min of moderate intensity or ≥75 min of vigorous intensity, per week), active social contact (≥twice per week), active cognitive activity (≥twice per week), never or previously smoked, and never drinking alcohol. Participants were categorised into the favourable group if they had four to six healthy lifestyle factors, into the average group for two to three factors, and into the unfavourable group for zero to one factor. Memory function was assessed using the World Health Organization/University of California-Los Angeles Auditory Verbal Learning Test, and global cognition was assessed via the Mini-Mental State Examination. Linear mixed models were used to explore the impact of lifestyle factors on memory in the study sample.

Results 29 072 participants were included (mean age of 72.23 years; 48.54% (n=14 113) were women; and 20.43% (n=5939) were APOE ε4 carriers). Over the 10 year follow-up period (2009-19), participants in the favourable group had slower memory decline than those in the unfavourable group (by 0.028 points/year, 95% confidence interval 0.023 to 0.032, P<0.001). APOE ε4 carriers with favourable (0.027, 95% confidence interval 0.023 to 0.031) and average (0.014, 0.010 to 0.019) lifestyles exhibited a slower memory decline than those with unfavourable lifestyles. Among people who were not carriers of APOE ε4, similar results were observed among participants in the favourable (0.029 points/year, 95% confidence interval 0.019 to 0.039) and average (0.019, 0.011 to 0.027) groups compared with those in the unfavourable group. APOE ε4 status and lifestyle profiles did not show a significant interaction effect on memory decline (P=0.52).

Conclusion A healthy lifestyle is associated with slower memory decline, even in the presence of the APOE ε4 allele. This study might offer important information to protect older adults against memory decline.

Introduction

Although a fundamental function of daily life, memory continuously declines as people age,1 impairing both life quality

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