As rates of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia continue to rise in the US, new evidence suggests that lifestyle factors, such as diet, exercise, and sleep, play a role in the reduced risk of developing dementia. The researchers say two new studies offer particular insights into factors that may contribute to the disproportionate burden of dementia in low-income, nonwhite US populations.
Our findings support the beneficial role of healthy lifestyles in preventing Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among older Americans, including those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged and at high risk for dementia. We must recognize that it is challenging for people facing systemic and structural disadvantage to maintain healthy lifestyles or make lifestyle changes. Establishing public health strategies to make lifestyle modifications attainable for all, especially disadvantaged populations, is critical.”
Danxia Yu, PhD, assistant professor, Division of Epidemiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, lead study author
Yu and his team will present the findings of two online studies at NUTRITION 2022 LIVE ONLINE, the American Society for Nutrition’s flagship annual meeting taking place June 14-16. The research was published online June 13, 2022, in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The research is from the Southern Community Cohort Study, a long-term research study launched in 2001 to investigate the root causes of various diseases and health disparities. About 85,000 participants were recruited from community health centers in the southeastern US, and two-thirds of the participants are black, giving the study one of the highest representations of African Americans of any large research cohort The researchers used Medicare claims data to track Alzheimer’s diagnoses among participants older than 65 years.
For the first study, the researchers extracted data from 17,209 older study participants, 1,694 of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementias during a median follow-up of 4 years. They evaluated five lifestyle factors -; smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity in leisure time, hours of sleep and quality of diet -; both individually and in combination. The results showed that healthy choices (no smoking, plenty of leisure time exercise, low to moderate alcohol consumption, adequate sleep, and a high-quality diet) were individually associated with an 11-25% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. . When combined, a composite score of those five lifestyle factors was associated with a 36% reduced risk in the highest versus lowest quartile. These associations were independent of participants’ age, gender, race, education, income, and underlying chronic conditions.
For the second study, the researchers pulled data from 14,500 older study participants, of whom 1,402 developed Alzheimer’s or related dementias. In this group, they looked at the intake of four main classes of dietary polyphenols – flavonoids, phenolic acids, stilbenes and lignans -; and its subclasses, using a validated food frequency questionnaire and polyphenol databases. Polyphenols are a large class of compounds that are commonly found in tea, red wine, chocolate, berries, and other foods and have been associated with a variety of health benefits. In this study, researchers found a significant difference in polyphenol intake between racial groups, with white participants consuming a median of about twice the total amount of polyphenols daily as black participants. Overall, there was no significant association between total dietary intake of polyphenols and the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in any race; however, certain flavonoids were associated with reduced risk among black participants but not among white participants. The findings showed that black participants in the top quartile for tea consumption had a 28% lower incidence of Alzheimer’s than black participants in the bottom quartile for tea consumption.
While both studies are observational and did not test the mechanisms behind the associations, the researchers said that healthy lifestyles, including healthy eating, may help protect brain health by improving glucose and lipid metabolism and reduce inflammation and psychological stress. Yu said more research is needed to further elucidate the relationship between lifestyle factors and Alzheimer’s disease among various populations.
“African Americans and people of low socioeconomic status are disproportionately affected by the disease, but have been largely underrepresented in epidemiological studies,” Yu said. “Identifying modifiable factors for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias among low-income people of different races and ethnicities is a critical public health issue.”
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American Society of Nutrition
Source: www.news-medical.net