Low educational attainment<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThey worked out that a third of Alzheimer’s cases could be linked to lifestyle factors that could be modified, such as lack of exercise and smoking.<\/p>\n
The researchers then looked at how reducing these factors could affect the number of future Alzheimer’s cases.<\/p>\n
They found that by reducing each risk factor by 10%, nearly nine million cases of the disease could be prevented by 2050.<\/p>\n
In the UK, a 10% reduction in risk factors would reduce cases by 8.8%, or 200,000, by 2050, they calculated.<\/p>\n
Current estimates suggest that more than 106 million people worldwide will be living with Alzheimer’s by 2050 – more than three times the number affected in 2010.<\/p>\n
Healthier old age<\/p>\n
Prof Carol Brayne, from the Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge, said: “Although there is no single way to treat dementia, we may be able to take steps to reduce our risk of developing dementia at older ages.<\/p>\n
“We know what many of these factors are, and that they are often linked.<\/p>\n
“Simply tackling physical inactivity, for example, will reduce levels of obesity, hypertension and diabetes, and prevent some people from developing dementia.<\/p>\n
“As well as being healthier in old age in general, it’s a win-win situation.”<\/p>\n
Dr Simon Ridley, head of research at charity Alzheimer’s Research UK, said there was still much to discover about the disease.<\/p>\n
“While age is the biggest risk factor for most cases of Alzheimer’s, there are a number of lifestyle and general health factors that could increase or decrease a person’s chances of developing the disease.<\/p>\n
“However, we still do not fully understand the mechanisms behind how these factors are related to the onset of Alzheimer’s.”<\/p>\n
Investment<\/p>\n
Dr Ridley said there were more than 820,000 people in the UK living with dementia, and an ageing population would lead to spiralling numbers being affected.<\/p>\n
“As there is still no certain way to prevent Alzheimer’s, research must continue to build the strongest evidence around health and environmental factors to help individuals reduce their risk.”<\/p>\n
He added: “This new study also highlights that many cases are not due to modifiable risk factors which underlines the need to drive investment into new treatment research.”<\/p>\n
Of the seven risk factors, the largest proportion of cases of Alzheimer’s in the US, UK and the rest of Europe can be attributed to physical inactivity.<\/p>\n
The study says about a third of the adult population in these countries are physically inactive.<\/p>\n
Physical inactivity is also linked to increased risks of other health problems, such as cancers and cardiovascular diseases.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One in three cases of Alzheimer’s disease worldwide is preventable, according to research from the University of Cambridge. The main risk factors for the disease are a lack of exercise, smoking, depression and poor education, it says. Previous research from 2011 put the estimate at one in two cases, but this new study takes into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-32010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-chinese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}