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A healthy lifestyle helps to prevent memory loss in older adults
A healthy lifestyle is better for memory retention in older adults, even when there is apolipoproteinE (APOE) e4 allel.
The researchers stated that the study showed strong evidence that memory decline is slower when people have a healthy lifestyle, which includes a healthy diet, regular exercise, active cognitive activity, and social contact.
This prospective cohort study was population-based and included 29,072 people (mean age 72.23 years; 48.54 percent of them were women; 20.43 percent were APOE e4 carrier) who had normal cognition. They also underwent APOE genotyping in 2009.
They followed the participants through death, discontinuation, and 26 December 2019.
The following factors were considered healthy: A healthy diet (adherence at least to 7 of the 12 eligible food items), regular exercise (>=150 minutes of moderate intensity or >=75 mg of vigorous intensity per week), active social interaction (>=twice a week), active cognitive activities (>=twice a week), never or previously smoked and never drank alcohol.
Participants were classified into the favourable group if they had four to six healthy lifestyle factors. Participants were then placed into the average group for two or three factors and the unfavourable group for one factor.
The researchers also explored the effects of lifestyle factors on memory using linear mixed model.
Participants in the favourable group had slower memory decline than those in unfavourable groups (0.028 points/year; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.23-0.032; P0.001) over a period of 10 years (2009-2019).APOE e4 carrier in the favourable (0.027 point/year, 95 % CI, 0.023 to 0.031) and the average (0.014 point/year 95 % CI, 0.010 - 0.019) lifestyle groups showed slower memory decline than those in the unfavourable group. The results were similar for non-APOE e4 carriers (favourable vs. unfavourable group, 0.029 points/year 95 percent CI 0.019-0.039; and average vs. unfavourable group, 0.019 points/year 95 percent CI 0.011-0.027).This study did not explore the mechanisms that could explain the positive effect of a healthy lifestyle upon memory. However, it is possible that there are several factors that may be responsible, including reduced cerebrovascular risk, enhanced cognitive reserve, inhibitions of oxidative stress, inflammation, and promotion neurotrophic factors.[Prev Med 2009:48:86-90; Neuroepidemiology 2008.31:39-47. Neurology 2020:95:e374-383. PLoS Med 2017.14:e1002259.]
