A new study suggests that a structured programme of regular exercise and a brain-healthy diet could improve memory and thinking in older people at risk of dementia.
The trial, conducted across 12 countries in Latin America, included more than 1,000 patients aged 60 to 77.
They were deemed at risk of developing dementia due to age or factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and whether they smoked.
Around half of these participants were assigned to a two-year programme. This involved supervised exercise sessions four days a week and personalised dietary advice, focusing on brain-healthy foods like green leafy vegetables, whole grains, berries, fish, nuts, and beans.
Activities were tailored to local culture, including salsa dancing, with researchers ensuring diets were affordable and easy to source locally.
Patients also met in small groups to socialise, took part in computer-based brain training, and regularly had their blood pressure, weight, and blood sugar recorded.
Common early symptoms of dementia
NHS
Some common early symptoms that may appear before a diagnosis of dementia include:
- memory loss
- difficulty concentrating
- finding it hard to carry out familiar daily tasks, such as getting confused over the correct change when shopping
- struggling to follow a conversation or find the right word
- being confused about time and place
- mood changes
The second group were given general health advice and attended four one-hour meetings over the two years.
The study found that cognition, episodic memory, executive function and procession speed were all better among those following the structured programme.
Researchers said that the findings, published in The Lancet, suggest that “harmonised, non-pharmacological interventions can be implemented across diverse sociocultural settings while maintaining standardisation and producing measurable cognitive benefits in older adults”.
Alzheimer’s Society estimates that about a million people in the UK have dementia, a number likely to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.
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