Aging with a healthy brain: How lifestyle changes could help prevent up to 40% of dementia cases
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Tuesday, August 22, 2023
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She is first told it’s nothing to worry about, then, a year later, that it’s “just normal aging.” Until finally, the penny drops: “It’s Alzheimer’s.
Key Points:
- She is first told it’s nothing to worry about, then, a year later, that it’s “just normal aging.” Until finally, the penny drops: “It’s Alzheimer’s.
- Dementia remains largely underdetected, even in high-income countries such as Canada where rates of undetected cases exceed 60 per cent.
- Research has shown that people with mild changes in cognition are at a greater risk of developing dementia later in life.
- Despite this, protocols for early detection are not standard in the medical community, in part because significant gaps remain in our understanding of dementia.
Dementia and an aging population
- In my research, I use advanced brain MRI methods to characterize brain health in older adults who are at high risk of developing dementia.
- The goal is to identify new biomarkers of early pathology, which could lead to improved detection methods in the future.
- The proportion of senior Canadians is growing in our population.
- Dementia is strongly associated with aging, so the number of Canadians diagnosed with dementia — including Alzheimer’s — is expected to rise considerably in the next few decades, reaching an expected 1.7 million Canadians by 2050.
Lifestyle and brain health
- By making dementia risk assessment a part of routine medical visits for older adults, those who are most at risk could be identified and counselled on how to maintain brain health and cognition.
- At-risk individuals likely need those interventions the most (potentially a combination of pharmaceutical and lifestyle interventions), but anyone can benefit from adopting healthy lifestyle habits, which are known to protect from diseases not only of the brain, but also of the heart and other organs.
- Some evidence also suggests that a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes high consumption of plants (especially leafy greens) while reducing saturated fats and meat intake, is also beneficial for brain health.
Barriers to healthy lifestyles
- Policy changes could address these inequalities not only by promoting healthy lifestyles, but also by taking action to improve the circumstances in which people of these communities live.
- Examples include improving access to sport centres or prevention clinics for people with lower incomes and designing cities that are conducive to active lifestyles.
- Governments need to evaluate and address the barriers that prevent people from specific groups from adopting healthy lifestyle habits.