Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide.
The condition is known to affect thinking and behaviours, causing much pain for the sufferer and family members.
Dementia can develop slowly over decades and first manifests as gradual cognitive decline that only shows up in cognitive tests.
It then degenerates into cognitive impairment, in which the individual notices their failing memory but can still look after themselves, and finally into full-blown dementia.
Two new separate studies have found health conditions that significantly impact your risk of developing onset dementia, further highlighting the importance of preventative measures to take today.
A world-first study from the University of South Australia found a startling link between a vitamin D deficiency and a growing risk to later onset dementia.
Not only that, but a study published today from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia found that people with either Type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke have double the risk of developing dementia.
These key insights reveal how taking vitamin D supplements and managing your diabetes, heart disease or stroke risk can significantly reduce later onset dementia.
Which diseases double the risk of dementia?
In the study, researchers extracted data from the Swedish National Study of Ageing and Care on a total of 2,500 healthy, dementia-free individuals over the age of 60 living in Stockholm.
Participants were then followed for 12 years with medical examinations and cognitive tests in order to monitor changes in cognitive ability and the development of dementia.
Researchers found that the presence of more than one cardiometabolic disease accelerated the speed of brain health decline and doubled the risk of dementia.
The magnitude of the risk was increased with a greater number of diseases, it further warned.
“Few studies have examined how the risk of dementia is affected by having more than one of these diseases simultaneously, so that’s what we wanted to examine in our study,” says Abigail Dove, doctoral student at the Aging Research Centre, part of the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.
“In our study, the combinations of diabetes/heart disease and diabetes/heart disease/stroke were the most damaging to cognitive function,” added Dove.
Healthy lifestyle habits that can help you manage your diabetes and reduce your risk of heart attacks and stroke include:
- Following a healthy eating plan
- Making physical activity part of your routine
- Reducing the amount of sugar and salt consumed
- Avoiding processed foods and saturated fat
- Staying at your getting to a healthy weight
- Getting enough sleep.
Vitamin D
Investigating the association between vitamin D, neuro-imaging features and the risk of dementia and stroke, the study made several key discoveries.
Scientists found that low levels of vitamin D were linked to lower brain volumes and an increased risk of dementia and stroke.
It also found that in some populations, as much as 17% of dementia cases might be prevented by increasing everyone to normal levels of vitamin D.
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey last year revealed that about one in six adults in the UK has low levels of vitamin D in their blood.
The essential vitamin peaked the interest of many scientists when strong links were found in vitamin D and Covid infection reduction.
Symptoms of low levels of vitamin D include fatigue, bone pain and mood changes.
“Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly recognised for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency,” Professor Elina Hyppönen, senior investigator, says.
She added: “Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population.
“In some contexts, where vitamin D deficiency is relatively common, our findings have important implications for dementia risks. Indeed, in this UK population we observed that up to 17 per cent of dementia cases might have been avoided by boosting vitamin D levels to be within a normal range.”
