Ageing and genetics are among the best-known unavoidable factors that can increase the risk of developing dementia.

But experts have now published a definitive list of 16 other ways that increases a person’s likelihood of developing the memory-robbing condition.

Being obese, smoking and not doing enough exercise are some of the more obvious habits that could leave you vulnerable to the syndrome that affects almost 1million Brits and 7million Americans. 

But tooth loss, not getting enough sleeping and eating too much ultra-processed foods also make the list. 

The list was compiled by Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), a federation of 100 Alzheimer’s associations around the globe.

Alzheimer’s disease, where certain proteins build-up in the brain impeding its function, is the most common cause of dementia accounting for around two out of three cases. 

ADI said even if just 12 of the 16 risk factors identified were addressed 55.6million cases of dementia could be prevented by 2050. 

They warned that many studies, which can point to everything from eating blueberries to drinking champagne as ways to reduce dementia risk, are confusing people about the real steps they can take to reduce their risk. 

Dementia is not a disease unto itself but rather the consequence of another condition.

It is characterised by progressive memory loss and difficulties doing daily activities, robbing people, particularly the elderly of their independence. 

Alzheimer’s, as already discussed, is one of the leading causes of the condition.

Another leading cause is vascular problems, where the blood supply to the brain is cut off by a stroke or a series of ‘mini-strokes’. 

There is no cure, but people can take action to reduce their risk of developing the condition. 

ADI convened a panel of respected experts to report the latest evidence on reducing dementia risk.

They found a total of 16 risk factors that were within people’s control, though some are easier to achieve than others. 

A dozen matched up with those already identified by a leading 2020 study published in the journal The Lancet. 

Some factors impacted our physical health like high blood pressure, obesity, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, smoking, exposure to air pollution and diabetes.

These could contribute to dementia risk by impacting our cardiovascular health, influencing our risk of strokes and the general health of our brains.

Another factor which impacted brain health, repeated head injuries through for example rugby or boxing, also appears to increase dementia risk. 

Other factors have less of a physical impact on our brains but are related to how we use them and are associated with an increased risk of dementia.

These were hearing loss, depression, a lack of education, and social isolation. 

But in addition to these 12, ADI researchers identified another four risks. 

One was a poor diet and in particular one containing ultra-processed foods UPF). 

Such foods, which contain a variety of emulsifiers, preservatives, and artificial flavourings and sweeteners have recently come under the spotlight after researchers uncovered a potential link to their consumption and poor cardiovascular health.

While ADI highlighted a number of studies linking UPF consumption with cognitive decline they acknowledged that the exact mechanism by which it increases dementia risk is unknown.

However, the report pointed to UPF consumption being linked to other known dementia risk factors like obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease as one possible explanation. 

Untreated sight loss was another factor identified by the ADI report.

They said, similar to hearing loss, the exact mechanism behind how it increased dementia risk was unclear.

Theories include that vision loss leads to the brain overworking to compensate for the lack of this sense, a concept called cognitive load, losing sight being linked to lower opportunities for brain stimulation, and a general increased risk of social isolation and poor psychological health. 

Tooth loss was another dementia factor identified by the ADI report. 

They cited research that found losing a tooth was linked to a 1.1 per cent increase in dementia risk, and that losing 20 of your pearly white raised the risk to 31 per cent.

Much like hearing loss being treated with hearing aids, tooth loss being treated with dentures seemed to mitigate this increased risk of developing dementia.

How exactly tooth loss influenced dementia risk was unclear.

However, the ADI report said tooth loss could simply be an indicator that someone is forgetting to practice good oral hygiene and therefore is an early sign of dementia, rather than a cause.

But they added there is some evidence that poor oral hygiene, and a consequential increase in gum disease, could cause an overall rise in inflammation in the body, harming the brain. 

Getting a good night’s rest was the final of the four factors detailed in the ADI report.

While acknowledging studies are mixed the ADI report suggested poor sleep patterns in middle age may contribute to a higher risk of dementia in later life.

The ADI report cited one study of 180,000 US Army veterans that found those with insomnia had a 26 per cent chance of developing Alzheimer’s over the next eight years.

A possible explanation is that sleep helps flush out a build-up of the proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, so a sustained lack of sleep inhibits this process, leading to rise in dementia risk. 

Despite concluding there were 16 modifiable risk factors for dementia, ADI noted there are ‘many other’ habits identified through other studies not included in the report. 

ADI’s chief executive Paola Barbarino said she hoped the report would help people make informed lifestyle choices to reduce their dementia risk. 

‘Almost 200 stories are published on dementia diets every day, pointing to the latest research on everything from blueberries to champagne,’ she said.

‘The reality is the conversation is far more nuanced than that.

‘Some of these risk factors require a degree of personal choice from individuals, like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, while others require government action, like air quality, and access to education.’ 

She added that while new breakthrough drugs to treat Alzheimer’s offer a source of hope to millions with disease, prevention offered a way to avoid dementia now. 

‘The old adage states that prevention is better than a cure – and in the absence of a cure, risk reduction is the best tool we’ve currently got available,’ she said,   

‘We understand it’s not always easy, but we can’t blueberry our way out of this, nor will there be a silver bullet magic pill for some time.’

Dame Louise Robinson, a professor of primary care and ageing at Newcastle University and co-chair of ADI’s medical and scientific advisory panel, added: ‘Research increasingly shows that dementia can be delayed or even prevented by targeting our lifestyle choices such as exercise, diet, and social connections.’

‘Healthy hearts, healthy bodies, and healthy brains, should be our mantra.’

The ADI report also featured accounts from people currently living with dementia.

One of these was Emily Ong, a Singaporean women who was diagnosed with dementia in 2017 at the age of 51.

She emphasised that taking steps to reduce dementia risk didn’t stop after a diagnosis, as improving your health could slow the progression of the condition. 

‘I immediately sought advice on nutrition and ways to slow progression, and to continue to live well,’ she said. 

‘The kitchen is the heart of my home and I love to cook, so I have adapted recipes, cook more with family and introduced more dementia-friendly kitchen equipment like see-through kettles.’

An estimated 900,000 people in the UK and approximately 7million people in the US are living with dementia.

The condition is considered a rising global health concern as people continue to live longer and it puts an increasing burden on health care systems including in the UK.

Treating and caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is estimated to cost Britain £25billion each year, according to Alzheimer’s Research UK, the vast majority of that being in social care spending.

• Eating cheese and dairy products  is associated with less cognitive decline
• Dairy eaters over 65 had better attention, memory and language skills

By Rebecca Whittaker For Mailonline

Published: 07:39 EDT, 18 September 2023 | Updated: 08:25 EDT, 18 September 2023

At least a third of dementia patients would not benefit from breakthrough drugs as they are never officially diagnosed with the disease, a report warns.

NHS figures show just 64 per cent of people in England with dementia have a formal diagnosis, lagging behind the government’s target of 67 per cent.

The lack of diagnosis means thousands of people would never be in contention for drugs like lecanemab and donanemab, hailed as ‘momentous’ in the fight to treat the disease.

Alzheimer’s Research UK said proven diagnosis techniques, such as lumbar punctures, were scarcely used with just 2 per cent of people suspected of having the disease given one.

Its Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia report is calling for numbers to be increased from 2,000 to 20,000 per year.

This would need an investment of £16m to fund the diagnostic infrastructure, equipment, and workforce training, including 50 new band 6/7 nurses across the UK.

This should be followed by sustained annual investment of £10m until new diagnostic tools, like blood tests, are ready to replace lumbar punctures, it states.

Samantha Benham-Hermetz, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: ‘For people living with dementia to receive proper treatment – including the new drugs currently being looked at by regulators – they need to receive a formal diagnosis.

‘But in England, we know that more than a third of over-65s living with dementia never get a diagnosis at all. This is completely unacceptable, as is the underlying diagnosis target of 67 per cent.

‘We wouldn’t accept this for any other condition, so we shouldn’t for dementia. In other UK nations, this information isn’t even available, as data on dementia diagnosis rates aren’t routinely published.’

It warned limited availability of diagnostic tests and the reluctance of some doctors to even offer people a diagnosis at all, has resulted in a postcode lottery.

Just 53 per cent of people living with dementia in Herefordshire and Worcestershire will be diagnosed, compared to 73 per cent in South Yorkshire, it found.

It comes as a second report predicts there will be a further 1.5 million cases of dementia in the UK by 2050.

Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) said more than 636,000 of these cases would be preventable of people and governments took more action.

The charity said cutting down on alcohol consumption, stopping smoking, doing more exercise and keeping frequent social contact could all lower a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s.

Dementia remains the biggest killer in the UK and is on track to be the nation’s most expensive health condition by 2030.

If nothing changes, one in two people will be directly affected by the disease, either caring for someone with the condition, developing it themselves, or both.

Officials need to take more action to address known risk factors, such as obesity, air pollution and restricted access to early education, it said.

Paola Barbarino, chief executive of ADI, said: ‘This is a critical step, in the absence of treatment or a cure, to prevent as many cases as possible.

‘We must ensure populations are aware of dementia risk-reduction strategies, at all ages, and have access to necessary information, advice, and support services.’

By Xantha Leatham, Deputy Science Editor For The Daily Mail

Updated: 18:30 EDT, 24 August 2023

• It’s not just sudokus learning a language can help protect against Alzheimer’s
• 282,000 British volunteers were tested on their reaction time and memory

By Xantha Leatham, Deputy Science Editor For The Daily Mail

Updated: 00:15 EDT, 23 August 2023

• Lecanemab appears to slow down the degenerative brain condition by a third
• But the drug has only been tested on patients who are otherwise healthy

By Ethan Ennals

Published: 17:45 EDT, 19 August 2023 | Updated: 20:45 EDT, 19 August 2023

One of my regrets in life is not being able to speak another language with any real fluency.

I’m embarrassed by my very basic French, but not embarrassed enough to put in the hard work to improve it. So I was delighted when I came across a recent study which suggested you can learn new words in your sleep.

Researchers from the University of Bern in Switzerland played volunteers a range of words in a language they didn’t understand, along with a translation, while they were in deep sleep.

Then, 36 hours later, they were asked to guess if a particular word meant an animal, a tool or a place. They did significantly better than a control group, who weren’t played the words — proving astonishingly that, despite being deeply asleep, they were still aware enough to learn something new.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that to produce this effect, the researchers had to use very short words, delivered at just the right moment in the volunteers’ sleep cycles, so unfortunately I am not sure this is going to help me.

But this study does confirm just how much is going on in our brains while we are sleeping.

And it adds to mounting evidence that deep sleep plays a vital role in memory and may even protect us against Alzheimer’s.

Deep sleep is one of the four main stages of our sleep cycle. It’s also known as slow-wave sleep because it’s when millions of neurons in your brain start firing together, producing big waves that slowly travel through your brain.

In deep sleep you’re at your most relaxed, and difficult to rouse, but below the surface there is plenty going on.

Your pituitary gland in the brain starts to secrete more growth hormone, vital for cell growth and repair, for instance.

Deep sleep also boosts production of cytokines, a type of protein that’s key for helping fight infections, which is partly why a lack of deep sleep makes you more vulnerable to colds and also reduces the efficacy of vaccines against infections such as the flu.

And deep sleep is when a network of channels in your brain, known as the glymphatic system, opens up, allowing fluid to pour through it, washing away the toxic waste that’s built up during the day. Which in turn can protect us from the impact of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

This was demonstrated in a fascinating new study by the University of California (UC), Berkeley, where researchers measured the brain activity of healthy adults in their 70s as they slept. The study participants also had brain scans to measure levels of amyloid, a protein linked to memory loss and dementia.

The results showed that despite having high amounts of amyloid in their brain, the participants who got plenty of deep sleep did far better in memory tests than those who had less.

The researchers think deep sleep could help explain why some people, despite their brains being clogged with amyloid, continue to thrive into old age, while others develop signs of dementia.

As Matthew Walker, a professor of neuroscience at UC Berkeley and a leading sleep expert, explained: ‘Think of deep sleep almost like a life raft that keeps your memory afloat, rather than memory getting dragged down by the weight of Alzheimer’s disease.’

Adults typically get around one to two hours of deep sleep a night, but this tends to drop off as we get older.

So how can we boost it? Apart from obvious things, such as cutting back on booze and getting to bed reasonably early (typically most deep sleep occurs in the first half of the night, which may give modern credence to the old saying, every hour of sleep before midnight is worth two after), you could try cutting down on junk food and instead eat a higher fibre, Mediterranean-style diet.

Numerous studies have shown that people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet (one that is rich in nuts, olive oil, oily fish and vegetables) have better quality sleep, while those who eat junk food tend to struggle. This includes research published recently in the journal Obesity, which compared the effect on sleep of a healthy diet with one that was moderately high in ultra-processed food.

The researchers from the University of Uppsala in Sweden randomly allocated a group of healthy young men to one approach for a week, then switched over.

Although the young men slept just as long on either diet, when they were eating junk food they had shallower, less restorative deep sleep, something which would become increasingly important as we get older.

Surprisingly enough, listening to sound can also make a difference. A couple of years ago I tried out a headband which measures your brain activity during sleep. As soon as the headband detects that you are in deep sleep, it makes a clicking noise that is quiet enough that it doesn’t wake you up.

For unknown reasons this clicking noise, delivered at just the right moment, helps to boost those low slow waves you get in deep sleep.

Unfortunately it didn’t do anything for me, but a study published last year by University Hospital Zurich produced more positive results.

It tested a similar device on a range of people, aged 60 to 80, and found that it did help some get more deep sleep (though others, like me, responded minimally or not at all).

The researchers are currently trying to improve its effectiveness before releasing a commercial version.

But by far the simplest thing you can do, particularly as we approach the longest day of the year, is to wear an eye mask.

Even with thick curtains you will be getting a lot of exposure to bright light first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and that will almost certainly be disrupting your sleep.

Wearing a mask works for me.

Does your face look older than your inner arm?

There’s much I love about this time of year, but the downsides include wasps, mozzies and worst of all, ultraviolet (UV) light.

I’ve recently finished making a TV series on ageing, and one of the most striking things I learned is just how much the sun ages our skin, with up to 80 per cent of facial ageing due to damage from UV light.

To see what your face would have looked like if you hadn’t been exposed to too much UV light, check out the parts of your body which don’t get lots of sun exposure, such as inside your upper arm.

Of course, prevention is better than cure: you can check the strength of the sun in your area with the UV index (just search online) — this runs from 1 to 11, but even in the 3-5 range you can still burn.

Once the damage is done, the creams with the best research behind them contain retinol, a compound shown to reduce the appearance of wrinkles by increasing the elasticity and thickness of your skin. But retinol can cause skin irritation so start with a low concentration (0.1 per cent).

No one wants to become wrinkly before their time, but developing skin cancers is even worse. Although melanoma is the most feared, other forms of skin cancer, such as basal cell carcinomas (BCCs), are far more common and over the past decade the number of BCC cases has risen by 40 per cent.

My wife, Clare, is one of them: now in her early 60s, she’s recently had two removed from her face.

Although BCCs tend to appear later in life, the damage is normally done at a much earlier age. A sobering study by the University of Arizona, soon to be published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, has found that getting sunburnt just once every two years, at any point in your life, nearly doubles your risk of a BCC. So keep an eye on that UV index.

A few years ago I became a living exhibit at the Science Museum in London, when I swallowed a tiny camera and the pictures were projected on a giant screen. Visitors to the museum could see live images from inside my stomach.

It was fantastically interesting, particularly when I ate and we were able to watch the food arrive in my stomach and slowly get digested.

At the time I thought how much better it would be if I could manoeuvre the camera for the best images. And now researchers at George Washington University in the U.S. have done just that, using magnets operated by a video game-style joystick.

I look forward to giving it a test run.

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and there’s still time to buy a card or call to let your dad know how much you love him. Sadly mine died 20 years ago, but I miss him a lot. And now I’m a father myself I can appreciate all the things he did for me. He died aged 74 from, among other things, complications of type 2 diabetes. One of my greatest sadnesses is I wasn’t able to give him the advice and support that might have kept him in good health for longer. So if your parents are still alive, cherish them. 

A neurologist paid up to $20,000 a year by biotech companies has been removed from a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee.

Dr David Weisman was removed as a temporary voting member by the agency after he was found to have financial ties to Eisai and Biogen – biotech companies behind a controversial Alzheimer’s drug.

The drug lecanemab, sold under Leqembi, received accelerated approval in January, but concerns over side effects and effectiveness have since emerged.

Dr Weisman, a Pennsylvania-based scientist, revealed he was no longer on the committee in a tweet Monday, which caught the attention of medical professionals who cited his incentive-cause bias toward Lecanemab. 

The FDA told DailyMail.com in a statement: ‘Similar to personnel matters, the FDA does not comment on matters related to individual members of an advisory committee.’ 

Dr Weisman is still employed by Eisai and Biogen behind the drug, which the committee is due to consider for approval later this week. 

The companies also developed the drug aducanumab — or Aduhelm — which has proved controversial over clinical data and its approval.

Dr Weisman, who works at Abington Neurological Associates, did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment. 

He tweeted Monday: ‘I’m not on [the committee] — for entirely unrelated reasons,’ he said in response to a post about his membership.

‘Even being considered was a great honor. I hoped to be worthy of the patients and science.’

In April, the neurologist was approved as a temporary voting member of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee (PCNS).

The FDA said at the time that he was needed for his ‘extensive experience’ and ‘unique qualifications’.

The agency stated in a waiver document: ‘Any potential for a conflict of interest is greatly outweighed by the strong need for Dr. Weisman’s expertise in this matter.’

But he has now been removed from the committee before its meeting on Lecunemab set for June 9.

Lecanemab works by removing a sticky protein from the brain that is believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease to advance. 

In a trial that involved 1,795 participants with early-stage, symptomatic Alzheimer’s, lecanemab slowed clinical decline by 27 percent after 18 months of treatment compared with those who received a placebo, Yale Medicine reports.

Christopher van Dyck, MD , director of Yale’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Unit, shared that the most significant side effect is an infusion-related reaction, which may include transient symptoms, such as flushing, chills, fever, rash, and body aches.

There is also the possibility of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with edema, or fluid formation on the brain, which Yale reports occurred in 12.6 percent of trial participants compared to 1.7 percent in the placebo group.

The third issue was amyloid-related imaging abnormalities with brain bleeding, found among 17.3 percent of trial participants.

‘The medication’s label includes warnings about brain swelling and bleeding and that people with a gene mutation that increases their risk of Alzheimer’s disease are at greater risk of brain swelling on the treatment,’ according to Yale Medicine. 

A waiver document revealed Dr Weisman was paid up to $15,000 a year by Biogen for advising on Aducanumab and helping to research the drug.

He also earned up to $5,000 per year by Eisai for his involvement in the Phase II study of the drug lecanemab, which involves patients that visit his practice.

Dr Weisman was also one of the dozens of signatories of a letter to the FDA published in May that urged it to approve lecanemab.

Lecanemab has proved controversial because it received accelerated approval status from the FDA despite concerns that it was too expensive — at $26,500 per year.

At the time, the FDA also considered it only ‘reasonably likely’ that the drug would help fight the disease. 

Phase III trials have now shown that it slows memory decline by 27 percent, and they are due to decide whether or not to approve the drug next month.

It comes after the agency faced warnings that its poor reputation was preventing it from shutting down misinformation online.

It has recently come under fire for its Covid booster rollout, slow response to the baby formula crisis and for working too closely with biotech companies.

Experts say the litany of scandals has undermined public trust in the agency, which will be an uphill battle to rebuild.

Dr Seema Yasmin, a medical misinformation expert at Stanford University in California, said: ‘The question I start with is, ‘are you a trusted messenger or not?’

‘In the context of the FDA, we can highlight multiple incidents which have damaged the credibility of the agency and deepened distrust of its scientific decisions.’

Dr Leticia Bode, a misinformation expert at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., added: ‘It’s not fair, but it doesn’t take too many negative stories to unravel the public’s trust.’

A bad sex life in middle-age raises men’s risk of DEMENTIA, study suggests

By Luke Andrews Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Updated: 13:41 EDT, 2 June 2023

A third of people who notice signs of dementia in themselves or a loved one keep their fears to themselves for longer than a month.

Just 15 per cent speak to someone else about the issue straight away, despite the benefits of early diagnosis for managing the condition, which leaves them facing fears for the future alone.

Alzheimer’s Society surveyed 1,137 adults up to the age of 85, who had diagnosed dementia, were carers for someone with a dementia, or were worried they or someone they loved may have the condition.

The top reason people stayed silent after noticing the first signs of dementia, or detecting them in a loved one, was that they confused the symptoms with simply getting older.

But 44 per cent of people surveyed said they were worried they or a loved one would be talked down to or treated like a child if they were diagnosed with dementia.

Kate Lee, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society, said: ‘We can’t continue to avoid the ‘D-word’ – we need to face dementia head on.

‘This Dementia Action Week we want everyone to know there is support out there if you’re confused about symptoms, or don’t know how to have that first tricky conversation.’

The charity learned 11 per cent of people who had detected their first dementia symptom, or the first symptom of someone close to them, had still not discussed it with anyone else at the time of filling out the survey.

This delay in addressing the problem has a knock-on impact on how soon people can get help.

The survey found 23 per cent of people waited longer than six months after the first dementia symptom before speaking to a medical professional.

While 64 per cent of people who kept quiet about dementia symptoms did so because they confused them with normal ageing, a third said they did not want to worry a loved one.

Meanwhile, 16 per cent were concerned about how it would affect their relationships, according to the survey, conducted by the firm Yonder Data Solutions for Alzheimer’s Society to mark Dementia Action Week.

Alzheimer’s Society has launched a new campaign – with the title ‘it’s not called getting old, it’s called getting ill’ – to encourage people worried about their memory, or the memory of someone close to them, to seek support in getting a diagnosis, including by using the charity’s online symptoms checklist.

Dementia diagnosis rates hit a five-year low during the pandemic, and have stagnated ever since – leaving tens of thousands of people living with undiagnosed dementia.

In the UK, one person develops dementia every three minutes – meaning that by 2040, 1.6million people will be living with the condition.

Kate Lee (SUBS – she is a Mrs) said: ‘At Alzheimer’s Society we’re dedicated to providing help and hope to everyone affected by dementia – nine in ten people told us they benefited from getting a diagnosis, helping them access the treatments, support and advice a diagnosis unlocks.’

The promising potential Alzheimer’s drugs lecanemab and donanemab, which slow down memory loss and may in future be widely available to people in the UK, rather than just in clinical trials, are shown to work better in people who are diagnosed earlier.

Dr Amir Khan, television doctor on ITV’s Lorraine, said: ‘A third of us will go on to develop dementia in our lifetimes.

‘We need to change the idea that getting dementia is inevitable as we age – it’s not called getting old, it’s called getting ill.

‘Reaching out to ask for help can feel a scary prospect but it’s better to know. ‘Patients I’ve seen getting a timely, accurate diagnosis have had the chance to benefit from treatments and support from organisations like Alzheimer’s Society they’d have otherwise missed out on.’