Researchers Study the Link Between Dementia & a Healthy Lifestyle

The Alzheimer’s Association is partnering with the Wake Forest School of Medicine in a new, first-of-its-kind intervention trial called the U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER). The two-year clinical trial wants to learn if lifestyle interventions that simultaneously target multiple risk factors can protect cognitive function in older adults between the ages of 60-79 who are at increased risk for cognitive decline.

The national study hopes to “create a new and healthier ‘normal’ through lifestyle changes.” While research have already shown that a healthier lifestyle protects our bodies’ overall health, scientists now want to know if it can also protect the health of the brain from future memory problems such as Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia.

The U.S. Pointer study is currently being conducted at the University of California - Davis, Rush University Medical Center, and Wake Forest School of Medicine, and is the first study of its kind to be done on such a large group of participants from across the United States. Additionally it is part of a worldwide consortium of other similar research including the 2014 Finland study of healthy older adults at increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia. The “FINGER Study” (Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability) reports that “a two-year combination therapy simultaneously targeting physical exercise, a healthy diet, cognitive stimulation, and self-monitoring of heart health risk factors had a protective effect on cognitive function.”

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Source: alz.org/us-pointer/overview.asp