Research finds healthy lifestyle reduces risk of Alzheimer's
Physical inactivity and smoking are two major risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States.
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About 33.9 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's disease according to a recent study in the Lancet Neurology, which also predicts the number of cases to triple over the next 40 years. The study cites seven "modifiable" risk factors: diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity, smoking, depression, cognitive inactivity or low educational attainment, and physical inactivity.
Physical inactivity and smoking are two major risk factors associated with the disease in the United States, where there are 5.4 million people living with Alzheimer’s. Globally, the biggest contributing factor is low education, with the others ranking a little lower.
According to the model presented by the study, reducing all seven risk factors by 10 percent would mean a reduction of 1.1 million Alzheimer’s cases worldwide and 184,000 cases in the U.S.
The study, by California researcher Deborah Barnes, was presented at a major Alzheimer's conference in Paris.
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