How healthy living may stave off dementia
Friday March 13th, 2015
A programme of healthy eating guidance, exercise, and brain training, can help stave off dementia, the results of a unique two-year trial have found.
In the first randomised controlled trial of its kind, the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) study, researchers assessed the effects on brain function of a comprehensive intervention aimed at addressing some of the most important risk factors for age-related dementia, such as high body-mass index and heart health.
The results are published in The Lancet.
The research, led by Professor Miia Kivipelto from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, and University of Eastern Finland, comprised 1,260 people from across Finland, all aged between 60 and 77 years and all of whom were deemed to be at risk of dementia.
Half the participants were half randomly allocated to the intervention group, while the other half were allocated to a control group and received only regular health advice.
Those in the intensive intervention took part in regular meetings over two years with physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, and were given comprehensive advice on maintaining a healthy diet, exercise programmes including both muscle and cardiovascular training, brain training exercises, and management of metabolic and vascular risk factors through regular blood tests, and other means.
At the end of the two-year period, the participants underwent a standard Neuropsychological Test Battery (NTB) and the results of those participants in the intervention group were 25% higher than those in the control group.
Professor Kivipelto said that in some parts of the test, the difference between groups was even more striking. In the executive functioning section, which examines the brain’s ability to organise and regulate thought processes, scores were 83% higher in the intervention group, while processing speed was 150% higher.
Intervention appeared to have no effect on patients’ memory but post-hoc analyses found that there was a difference in memory scores between the intervention and control groups.
“Much previous research has shown that there are links between cognitive decline in older people and factors such as diet, heart health, and fitness,” said Prof Kivipelto.
“However, our study is the first large randomised controlled trial to show that an intensive programme aimed at addressing these risk factors might be able to prevent cognitive decline in elderly people who are at risk of dementia.”
The study participants will be followed for at least seven years to see if the diminished cognitive decline seen in this trial is followed by reduced levels of dementia and Alzheimer’s diagnoses.
Ngandu T, Lehtisalo J et al. A 2 year multi-domain intervention of diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk monitoring versus control to prevent cognitive decline in at-risk elderly people (FINGER): a randomised controlled trial. The Lancet 12 March 2015; doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60461-5 [abstract]
Tags: Brain & Neurology | Diet & Food | Europe | Fitness | Mental Health
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