Dementia risks can be reduced considerably by lifestyle changes centered around diet, exercise and cognitive training, a new research has concluded.
Carried out by researchers in Finland and Sweden, the clinical trial dubbed Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER), followed and examined 1260 people – aged between 60 and 77 years and deemed to be at high risk of dementia – for over two years.
The probability that this group was at a high risk of dementia was determined by a risk score which took into account age, sex, education, blood pressure, body mass index, total cholesterol and physical activity.
The participants were split into two groups – one that received regular health advice on healthy diet, physical and mental activities and how to manage cardiovascular risk factors, while members of the other received an intense programme of activities.
These activities included up to 12 sessions led by a nutritionist around improving diet, a physical exercise training programme guided by physiotherapists, individual and group sessions focused on memory and thinking activities, and management of metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors in line with clinical guidance.
At the start of the trial, participants were tasked with memory and thinking tests and similar tests were repeated at the end of the two year period.
The results were promising as the members in the multi-intervention group showed 25 per cent higher scores across the different memory and thinking tasks than those in the control group over the two year period.
The same team will now monitor the participants over seven years to see if those who received the intensive healthcare intervention are less likely to develop dementia.
“This study is one of the first of its kind, testing the benefits of a group of intensive lifestyle and health interventions on memory and thinking in older people at higher risk of dementia”, said Dr Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
“The initial results are promising and suggest that a combination of improving cardiovascular health and keeping mentally active could slow decline in some aspects of our thinking, but it’s unclear which of the interventions carried the greatest benefit.”
“Much previous research has shown that there are links between cognitive decline in older people and factors such as diet, heart health, and fitness”, said Professor Miia Kivipelto, at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
“Our study is the first to show a programme aimed at addressing risk factors might prevent cognitive decline.”
