Healthy lifestyle can offset genetic risk of dementia: study

WASHINGTON. KAZINFORM - Those who are more likely to have dementia due to their genes could have a way out. A new study showed that living a healthy lifestyle may help offset a person's genetic risk of dementia, Xinhua reports.

The study published on Sunday in the journal JAMA showed that the riskof dementia was 32 percent lower in people with a high genetic risk if they hadfollowed a healthy lifestyle, compared to those who had an unhealthy lifestyle.

Participants with high genetic risk and a bad lifestyle were almostthree times more likely to develop dementia compared to those with a lowgenetic risk and favourable lifestyle, according to the study.

Researchers analyzed data from 196,383 adults of European ancestry aged60 and older, and they identified 1,769 cases of dementia over a follow-upperiod of eight years. The team grouped the participants into those with high,intermediate and low genetic risk for dementia.

They also grouped participants into favourable, intermediate andunfavourable categories based on their self-reported diet, physical activity,smoking and alcohol consumption.

The researchers found that living a healthy lifestyle was associatedwith a reduced dementia risk across all genetic risk groups.

«Some people believe it's inevitable they'll develop dementiabecause of their genetics. However it appears that you may be able tosubstantially reduce your dementia risk by living a healthy lifestyle,»said the paper's co-lead author David Llewellyn from the University of ExeterMedical School.