There are known factors that increase the risk for dementia. For example, people with Down’s syndrome are at very high risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease while very young. However, on the whole, there is limited data on ideal strategies to lower an individual’s risk for Alzheimer’s Disease. Providing general guidelines for a healthy lifestyle and increasing the focus to cognitive health, rather than Alzheimer disease specifically, it becomes clear that exercise and lowering cardiovascular risk factors lowers risk for long term brain and heart disease.
Cardiovascular risk factors include blood pressure control, lipid lowering strategies, exercise, avoiding obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Tobacco use remains a major concern for cardiovascular wellness as a whole.
Alcohol consumption has been plagued with both positive and negative reviews for possible health benefits. However, it is very clear from all available data that excess consumption of alcohol in any form is detrimental to brain health and general health as well, and should be avoided. For older adults, as they develop dementia, one concern is that they sometimes forget how much they are drinking, and this should be reviewed by family and medical providers when reviewing other factors like medication, that may be causing a decline in cognitive function.
Several studies have evaluated the use of antioxidants, vitamins, and other supplements. None of these have been found to be effective in prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. This includes Vitamin E supplementation, Vitamin B6, B12 and folate supplementations, Vitamin D supplementation or multivitamins. This does not mean that if those vitamin levels are found to be low, they should not be replaced. This finding only indicates that in people with normal levels, adding supplementation does not appear to lower their risk for developing Alzheimer’s Disease. This is an important area of study, and one worth observing, since more data is likely to come out of the ongoing studies in the months and years to come.
Dietary factors have also been analyzed to check if any could be used to lower the risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. Thus far, the studies have had mixed results. An overall healthy diet is recommended for overall wellness, rather than focusing only on prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease alone.
There has been some interesting data from a study where people consuming fruit and vegetable juices have been found to possibly have a lower risk of developing dementia. The Mediterranean diet appears to have some benefit in that people who adhere to the diet appear to have lower risk for dementia. Furthermore, the Mediterranean diet has been shown to improve other causes for disease and death, like stroke.
In one study, the dietary intake of berries like strawberries and blueberries, which have high levels of flavonoids, was associated with better cognitive outcomes. The use of soy protein supplementation, however, did not have any effect on rates of dementia.
In addition to a healthy lifestyle, treating underlying conditions such as hypertension and diabetes are crucial to maintaining wellness, and reducing the risk of dementia in general.
