Healthy lifestyle could help offset genetic risk of dementia

Adopting a healthy lifestyle comes with numerous benefits and one among them is that it offsets a person's genetic risk of dementia, suggests a new study.

The study published in the journal 'JAMA' found that the risk of dementia was 32 per cent lower in people with a high genetic risk if they had followed a healthy lifestyle, compared to those who had an unhealthy lifestyle.

Participants with high genetic risk and an unfavourable lifestyle were almost three times more likely to develop dementia compared to those with low genetic risk and favourable lifestyle.

"This is the first study to analyse the extent to which you may offset your genetic risk of dementia by living a healthy lifestyle. Our findings are exciting as they show that we can take action to try to offset our genetic risk for dementia. Sticking to a healthy lifestyle was associated with a reduced risk of dementia, regardless of the genetic risk," said Dr Elzbieta Kuzma, study's lead author.

The study analysed data from 1,96,383 adults of European ancestry aged 60 and older. The researchers identified 1,769 cases of dementia over a follow-up period of eight years. The team grouped the participants into those with high, intermediate and low genetic risk for dementia.

To assess genetic risk, the researchers looked at previously published data and identified all known genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. Each genetic risk factor was weighted according to the strength of its association with Alzheimer's disease.

To assess lifestyle, researchers grouped participants into favourable, intermediate and unfavourable categories based on their self-reported diet, physical activity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.

The researchers considered no current smoking, regular physical activity, healthy diet and moderate alcohol consumption as healthy behaviours.

The team found that living a healthy lifestyle was associated with a reduced dementia risk across all genetic risk groups.

"This research delivers a really important message that undermines a fatalistic view of dementia. Some people believe it's inevitable they'll develop dementia because of their genetics. However it appears that you may be able to substantially reduce your dementia risk by living a healthy lifestyle," said Dr David Llewellyn, another lead author of the study.