A long-term study has suggested that adopting seven healthy habits in middle age may help cut the risk of dementia. Being active, eating a better diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and having low blood sugar may all cut the chances of developing conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, experts found.
The study involved 13,720 women who were aged 54 on average at the start of the research. After 20 years of follow-up, researchers looked at US health data to identify those who had been diagnosed with dementia.
Some 1,771 women, or 13% of those in the study, had developed dementia. For each of the seven health factors, people were given a score of zero for poor or “intermediate” health, and one point for ideal health, leading to a total possible score of seven.
