This mindset reduced dementia risk even after controlling for genetics.
The number of people diagnosed with dementia is expected to almost triple over the next three decades.
Half of Americans are already doing this common activity that helps preserve thinking skills.
You don’t need diabetes for this everyday factor to cause brain damage.
You don’t need diabetes for this everyday factor to cause brain damage.
The average person eats the equivalent of an extra burger meal every day compared with 50 years ago.
A burger, fries and soft drink works out to an extra 650 calories per day.
That is around 30 percent more calories than people need.
The consequences for people’s waistlines and their brains is devastating.
Brain health declines dramatically as a result of poor nutrition, especially early in life.
One of the main culprits is sugar, which accelerates neurodegeneration and impairs cognitive function.
Even ‘high-normal’ levels of blood sugar contribute to neurodegenerative processes.
People need to eat well and exercise early in life to avoid brain shrinkage and dementia later on.
Professor Nicolas Cherbuin, the study’s first author, said:
“People are eating away at their brain with a really bad fast-food diet and little-to-no exercise.
We’ve found strong evidence that people’s unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise for sustained periods of time puts them at serious risk of developing type 2 diabetes and significant declines in brain function, such as dementia and brain shrinkage.”
The conclusions come from a review of around 200 studies carried out around the world.
Fully 30 percent of the world’s population is obese now, and 10 percent will have type 2 diabetes by 2030.
Professor Cherbuin said:
“The link between type 2 diabetes and the rapid deterioration of brain function is already well established.
But our work shows that neurodegeneration, or the loss and function of neurons, sets in much, much earlier—we’ve found a clear association between this brain deterioration and unhealthy lifestyle choices.
The damage done is pretty much irreversible once a person reaches midlife, so we urge everyone to eat healthy and get in shape as early as possible—preferably in childhood but certainly by early adulthood.”
The effort to improve diet is coming too late for many, said Professor Cherbuin:
“What has become really apparent in our investigation is that advice for people to reduce their risk of brain problems, including their risk of getting dementia, is most commonly given in their 60s or later, when the ‘timely prevention’ horse has already bolted.
Many people who have dementia and other signs of cognitive dysfunction, including shrinking brains, have increased their risk throughout life by eating too much bad food and not exercising enough.
One of the best chances people have of avoiding preventable brain problems down the track is to eat well and exercise from a young age.
The message is simple, but bringing about positive change will be a big challenge.
Individuals, parents, medical professionals and governments all have an important role to play.”
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology (Cherbuin & Walsh, 2019).
A quick test that predicts poor brain health and cognitive decline before any other symptoms.
90% use too much of an everyday substance that can cause inflammation of blood vessels in the brain, which is linked to dementia.
90% use too much of an everyday substance that can cause inflammation of blood vessels in the brain, which is linked to dementia.
A high-salt diet is linked to cognitive decline and possibly dementia.
Salt causes the delicate lining of the brain’s blood vessels to inflame, because of signals sent from the gut.
Fully 90 percent of Americans consume above the recommended dietary maximum of 2,300 mg per day.
Dr Costantino Iadecola, study co-author, said:
“We discovered that mice fed a high-salt diet developed dementia even when blood pressure did not rise.
This was surprising since, in humans, the deleterious effects of salt on cognition were attributed to hypertension.”
The effect was quickly reversed by lowering salt intake.
The conclusions come from a study in which mice were fed a high-salt diet that is equivalent to a high-salt diet in humans.
Subsequently, the mice had much worse cognitive function.
Their brains showed 28 percent less activity in the cortex and 25 percent less in the hippocampus.
They had problems getting around a maze and did not show the usual interest in new objects placed in their cage.
They also had poorer blood flow in their brains and the integrity of the blood vessels there was worse.
However, these changes were reversed once the mice were returned to a normal diet.
The scientists found that these changes had nothing to do with higher blood pressure.
Worse cognitive functioning in the mice was seen even when the mice had normal blood pressure.
They were the result of signals sent from the gut to the brain.
These activated an immune response in the brain which increased levels of interleukin-17.
This eventually resulted in the inflammation of the delicate lining of the brain’s blood vessels.
The study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience (Faraco et al., 2018).
Even a year after taking part in the study, the way some older people’s brains processed language was more akin to young people.
Even a year after taking part in the study, the way some older people’s brains processed language was more akin to young people.
Only tasks which involve sustained mental effort can help protect the brain from aging.
Activities like digital photography or quilting can provide the necessary mental stimulation.
Socialising, listening to music or playing simple games, though, did not have the same beneficial effects, researchers found.
Dr Denise C. Park, one of the study’s authors, said:
“The present findings provide some of the first experimental evidence that mentally-challenging leisure activities can actually change brain function and that it is possible that such interventions can restore levels of brain activity to a more youth-like state.
However, we would like to conduct much larger studies to determine the universality of this effect and understand who will benefit the most from such an intervention.”
The study involved assigning older adults to both high-challenge and low-challenge activities.
They continued these for around 15 hours a week over 14 weeks.
Only the activities that provided an active learning component were beneficial.
People who learned quilting or digital photography showed impressive improvements:
Some of these gains were maintained up to one year later.
The way these older people’s brains processed language was more akin to young people than their counterparts in the low-challenge group.
Dr Ian McDonough, who co-authored the study, said:
“The study clearly illustrates that the enhanced neural efficiency was a direct consequence of participation in a demanding learning environment.
The findings superficially confirm the familiar adage regarding cognitive aging of ‘Use it or lose it.'”
Dr Park added:
“Although there is much more to be learned, we are cautiously optimistic that age-related cognitive declines can be slowed or even partially restored if individuals are exposed to sustained, mentally challenging experiences.”
The study was published in the journal Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience (McDonough et al., 2015).
From 5-minute habits to vitamin levels, researchers uncover powerful ways to keep your mind sharp as you age.
The probiotic has been investigated in over 250 clinical trials.
The probiotic has been investigated in over 250 clinical trials.
Probiotics help prevent mild declines in memory and thinking skills that typically occur with age.Older adults with mild cognitive impairment who took Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) for three months displayed improved cognition scores.LGG has been investigated in over 250 clinical trials and there is some evidence it can be useful for treating irritable bowel syndrome and some other gastrointestinal issues.Ms Mashael Aljumaah, the study’s first author, said:“The implication of this finding is quite exciting, as it means that modifying the gut microbiome through probiotics could potentially be a strategy to improve cognitive performance, particularly in individuals with mild cognitive impairment.This adds a new layer to our understanding of the microbiome brain-gut connection and opens up new avenues for combating cognitive decline associated with aging.”
“Many studies focus on severe forms of cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, but these conditions are more advanced, making them significantly harder to reverse or treat.In contrast, we focused on mild cognitive impairment, which can include problems with memory, language, or judgment. Interventions at this stage of cognitive impairment could slow down or prevent the progression to more severe forms of dementia.”Not only did the thinking skills of participants who took probiotics improve, the results showed, but changes were measured in the gut microbiome.Microbes in the genus Prevotella decreased as people’s thinking skills increased.Ms Aljumaah said:
“By identifying specific shifts in the gut microbiome associated with mild cognitive impairment, we’re exploring a new frontier in preventive strategies in cognitive health.If these findings are replicated in future studies, it suggests the feasibility of using gut microbiome-targeted strategies as a novel approach to support cognitive health.”It is not yet known how or why Prevotella interacts with brain health — that is what the researchers are working on next.
Changes in sleep quality are linked to dementia.
Changes in sleep quality are linked to dementia.
People who sleep more than 9 hours a night have double the risk of developing dementia.
Those sleeping longer also have lower brain volumes.
The exception was well-educated people, Professor Sudha Seshadri, a study author, explained:
“Participants without a high school degree who sleep for more than 9 hours each night had six times the risk of developing dementia in 10 years as compared to participants who slept for less.
These results suggest that being highly educated may protect against dementia in the presence of long sleep duration.”
The conclusions come from a study that followed people over 10 years to see who developed dementia.
People who slept 9 hours or more were at double the risk of developing dementia as those who slept less than 9 hours a night.
Dr Matthew Pase, study co-author, said:
“Self-reported sleep duration may be a useful clinical tool to help predict persons at risk of progressing to clinical dementia within 10 years.
Persons reporting long sleep time may warrant assessment and monitoring for problems with thinking and memory.”
However, it is probably not excessive sleep that is a cause of dementia.
Rather, excessive sleep is a symptom of dementia.
Dr Rosa Sancho, from Alzheimer’s Research UK, said:
“While unusual sleep patterns are common for people with dementia, this study adds to existing research suggesting that changes in sleep could be apparent long before symptoms like memory loss start to show.
Other studies have indicated a link between changes in sleep quality and the onset of dementia, and while this wasn’t measured in this study, it could be an important factor affecting sleep duration.”
The study was published in the journal Neurology (Westwood et al., 2017).
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