Too much salt and too little exercise increase cognitive decline

A study conducted in Canada and published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging has found that a high salt diet combined with little physical activity was associated with worse decline in brain function. The study included over 1200 people, aged 67-84, living in Quebec, Canada. The particpants’ cognitive function was tested annually over 3 years. For those who did little physical exercise, those who also consumed a high salt diet showed the worst decline in cognitive abilities over the 3 years, losing an average of 2 points on a standard cognitive test, compared to only 1/2 a point for those consuming a low salt diet. So, the common pastime of eating salty snacks while watching TV is not so good for our brain. The good news is, exercise and watching how much salt we eat can help keep our brains healthy and functioning well. Check the amont of salt in the foods you buy by looking at the sodium content on the label. Less than 120 mg of sodium per 100 g of food is considered low, between 120 and 600 mg is considered OK, and 600 mg or more is considered a high sodium content.

Brain health – what’s heart got to do with it?

Alzheimer’s Australia is working with the Heart Foundation to make Australians aware of the link between heart health and brain health. We have produced two new resources that provide information about what you can do to reduce your risk for both cardiovascular disease and dementia. Keeping active, eating well and managing blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes all contribute to a healthy heart and brain. A brochure provides the basic steps to heart and brain health, while a tip sheet explains the link and provides advice and sources of further information. Both can now be downloaded from the Resources page on this site.

3 million fewer Alzheimer’s disease cases if we reduce risk factors by 25%

A study recently published in The Lancet Neurology estimated the effect on the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease of reducing several risk factors. This study estimates that if the prevalence of 7 risk factors was 10% lower, there would be 1 million fewer cases of Alzheimer’s disease worldwide. If the 7 risk factors were 25% less prevalent, there would be 3 million fewer people in the world with Alzheimer’s. The findings suggest that up to half of Alzheimer’s disease cases may be attributable to 7 potentially modifiable risk factors – obesity (2.0% of cases), diabetes (2.4%), high blood pressure (5.1%), depression (10.6%), physical inactivity (12.7%), smoking (13.9%) and low education or mental inactivity (19.1%).

The researchers concluded that public health campaigns targeted at increasing the level of physical activity in society and enhancing lifelong educational opportunities could have a profound effect on future dementia prevalence. Medical interventions to detect and manage depression, diabetes and high blood pressure can also have dramatic impacts. This study highlights the need for a preventative approach to dementia, at individual and societal levels. While dementia remains incurable, risk reduction offers the only hope for slowing the dementia epidemic.

Reference: Barnes DE & Yaffe K. The projected effect of risk factor reduction on Alzheimer’s disease prevalence. The Lancet Neurology, 2011, DOI:10.1016/51474-4422(11)70072-2
Available from http://www.thelancet.com/journals/laneur/article/PIIS1474-4422(11)70072-2/abstract

The Illawarra and Shoalhaven Healthy Heart Healthy Mind campaign

If you live in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region of NSW, or you are a health professional working in that region, check out the Healthy Heart Healthy Mind campaign. This campaign aims to raise awareness of the link between having high blood pressure in midlife and the risk of developing dementia later in life. Free community forums are being held to let people know what they should be doing to keep their blood pressure haelthy. And free blood pressure checks are being provided at various locations in the region. Education sessions for health professionals are also being held. All the details are available at the Healthy Heart Healthy Mind website.

Try our new music quiz

Doing a quiz is a fun way to exercise many brain functions, including memory. And as the Mind your Brain signpost tells us, keeping your brain active could help reduce the risk of dementia. Since we launched the Mind your Mind website last September, lots of people have been enjoying our ‘Mind your Mind’ and ‘Your Amazing Brain’ quizzes. Now we have added another quiz to test your ‘Music Knowledge’. There’s a mix of old and new music, so something for everyone. And if you don’t know an answer, try googling the question and see what interesting facts you can find out. Click on the ‘Quiz’ button in the left menu to go to any of our quizzes. And after you’ve given it a go, you can find the answers here.

Vitamin D – will more sun exposure reduce your risk of dementia?

Several recent research studies have reported that vitamin D deficiency is associated with cognitive impairment and a higher risk of dementia. Vitamin D deficiency is relatively common, and too little sun exposure, dietary factors or certain medical conditions can increase the risk of a person being deficient. Low vitamin D levels affect bone health and increase the risk of rickets (a bone growth disorder) in children and osteomalacia (a bone-thinning disorder) in adults. Low vitamin D may also increase the risk of heart disease and some cancers as well as cognitive impairment, and is something that should be checked for and treated.

So, should we all be getting more sun? The sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation is both a major cause of skin cancer and the best natural source of vitamin D. We need to balance the risk of skin cancer from too much sun exposure with getting enough sun for healthy vitamin D levels.

Most Australians should get enough vitamin D during their normal day-to-day activities. Just a few minutes exposure to the face, arms and hands (or equivalent area of skin) in the morning or afternoon will help with vitamin D levels. Sun protection is recommended for longer esposure, although people in the southern states can afford to get a little more sun in winter months.

Any more time spent in the sun, without adequate sun protection, will cause sunburn, eye and skin damage and increase your risk of skin cancer. So, spending more time in the sun to boost your vitamin D and reduce your risk of dementia is definitely not recommended. Information and resources about getting the balance right between vitamin D and sun protection are available at the Cancer Council SunSmart website.

For some people who are vitamin D deficient, normal sun exposure will not be enough and vitamin D supplements may need to be taken. If you are concerned about your vitamin D levels, speak to your doctor. A simple blood test can determine your vitamin D levels and if you are deficient, your doctor can advise on the best course of action.

Prevention a major focus at ICAD 2010

While there is still no cure for dementia, prevention research is increasing

The International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease (ICAD) was held in Honolulu in July 2010. This is the largest annual international dementia conference, attended by over 3000 researchers and clinicians. This year, over 350 talks, 1500 posters and a neuroimaging workshop were presented. One of the major topics of the conference was dementia prevention. Researchers from around the world presented the latest findings and ideas on diet and nutrients, vascular and metabolic factors, physical activity, intellectual activity, sleep disorders and depression, hormone replacement therapy and obesity, and their links with the risk of developing dementia.

While many studies now support the fact that these lifestyle and health factors are associated with increased or decreased dementia risk, we know far less about the impact of addressing these risk factors. That is, can an intervention aimed at increasing physical activity or reducing high cholesterol, for example, actually reduce the number of people who subsequently develop dementia? Several clinical trials of such interventions are currently underway around the world and some of these were presented at ICAD. These are long term studies and it will be 2013 before we have the first meaningful results, but they may help answer some important remaining questions.

Another issue highlighted in many of the presentations on dementia prevention was the importance of considering the time of life at which risk factors exert their influence and at which interventions should be targeted. There is growing consensus that midlife (40 – 60) is a crucial time for addressing dementia risk factors and that many factors such as physical and mental activity likely have an influence across the lifespan. So don’t wait, start minding your mind today.

See the ICAD website for more news from the 2010 conference.

Prevention programs could reduce the incidence of dementia

New research highlights the potential benefits of addressing risk factors

A study published recently in the British Medical Journal estimated the percentage reduction in incidence of dementia that would be obtained if specific risk factors were eliminated. The researchers found that increasing crystallised intelligence and fruit and vegetable consumption and eliminating depression and diabetes are likely to have the biggest impact on reducing the incidence of dementia, outweighing even the effect of removing the principal known genetic risk factor.

The models used in the study estimated that increasing intellectual activity would lead to 18% fewer cases of mild cognitive impairment and dementia over 7 years, eliminating depression would reduce incidence by 10%, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption would mean 6.5% fewer cases and eliminating diabetes would reduce incidenece by 4.9%. Eliminating the largest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, the APOE4 allele, would mean 7% fewer cases over 7 years.

This study, involving 1433 older people in France, highlights the enormous potential for dementia risk reduction strategies applied at a population level to reduce the growing incidence of dementia. The findings also suggest priorities that may inform public health programs for dementia prevention, suggesting that lifelong mental stimulation, diet, depression and diabetes are important targets.

Brain Test Britain – the results

Online brain training failed to improve general function

The BBC and the UK Alzheimer’s Society’s Brain Test Britain is the first ever online clinical trial looking at the benefits of brain training. The first results were published recently in the journal Nature. Over 11,000 people trained several times a week for 6 weeks on tasks designed to improve reasoning, memory, planning, visuospatial skills and attention. While improvements were seen on the tasks trained, no evidence was found for any transfer of effects to untrained but related cognitive tasks.

The researchers stated that the idea that comercially available computerised brain training programs can improve general cognitive function in the population lacks scientific evidence. There is still a lot more research needed in this area before we can say whether this sort of brain activity can help reduce the risk of dementia.

The Brain Test Britain trial is still running, so there will be longer term results in the future, that might say something different. The trial is no longer recruiting participants, however. To find out more, visit the Brain Test Britain website.

Does brain training work?

A new online trial aims to find out

The BBC and the Alzheimer’s Society in the UK are conducting a project called Brain Test Britain.  It is the first ever online clinical trial looking at the benefits of brain training.  More and more people are playing brain training games to keep their brains active.  There are claims that these will improve or maintain mental performance as we get older.  However, there is very little scientific evidence to support these claims.

The Brain Test Britain trial will run for one year, during which participants will perform ten minute brain training exercises online at least three times a week.  Learning and memory will be tested by online assessments for up to one year.

They still need more people over 60 to take part and help answer important questions about whether brain training should be included in research into prevention of dementia.  Anyone around the world can take part.  The recruitment phase will be ending soon, so to find out more or sign up, visit the Brain Test Britain website.