More the education, lesser the dementia risk

While the cause of dementia remains elusive for medical researchers, a new study has found that people, who stay in education until at least 18, are more likely to delay the disease later in life.

According to the study, going to college and keeping your brain busy as an adult may help ward off some brain changes occurring in Alzheimer's disease.

It also suggests that appropriate changes in lifestyle and improving physical health could eventually help delay the development of dementia or prevent it altogether.

Alzheimer's Society chief Dr Doug Brown said that this report suggests people with the APOE-E4 gene, which increases the chances of Alzheimer's, seem to have better brain health if they keep their minds active throughout their lives.

Dr. Simon Ridley of Alzheimer's Research UK added that as none of the volunteers in the study had symptoms, it's hard to make conclusions about the long-term impact of these factors on dementia risk.

The study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.