Type 2 Diabetics: Cutting Dementia Risk with Healthy Lifestyle Choices
Alteration of Dementia Risk: Maintaining 7 Habits Beneficial for Individuals Suffering from Type 2 Diabetes
Let's talk about dementia - a chronic condition that's a real headache. It's not exactly a walk in the park, and with no cure in sight, folks are understandably curious about ways to lower their risk. Good news for Type 2 diabetics! A recent study published in Neurology reveals that adopting certain healthy habits can help reduce dementia risk for these individuals.
Dementia: Causes and Controllables
Dementia is a catch-all term for disorders that mess with a person's memory, thinking, and reasoning abilities. It tends to get worse over time, and can make daily life a real challenge. While factors like age and family history are out of our control, there are other risk factors that can be modified to lower the risk. Smoking, being overweight, and excessive alcohol consumption, for example, are all risk factors for Alzheimer's and dementia-related conditions.
Diabetes is also a risk factor, especially Type 2 diabetes. The good news is that, with proper management, people with diabetes can improve their health and potentially reduce their dementia risk. Research is still underway to understand exactly how healthy lifestyle choices can impact dementia risk.
Type 2 Diabetes, Dementia, and Lifestyle
In this study, researchers took a look at how seven healthy lifestyle habits affected dementia risk, for both people with and without diabetes. These habits included:
- Quitting smoking
- Moderate alcohol consumption
- Regular exercise
- Healthy diet
- Adequate sleep
- Less sedentary behavior
- Regular social contact
Researchers sourced their data from the U.K. Biobank, examining participants who were aged 60 or above, and had no dementia at the start of the study. Participants with Type 1 diabetes were excluded, allowing the researchers to focus on Type 2 diabetes.
Participants were assigned a lifestyle score based on their lifestyle habits, with each behavior category having a defined 'healthy' range. For example, someone was classified as being regularly physically active if they engaged in at least 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.
The study included over 160,000 participants, including more than 12,000 with diabetes. Researchers tracked the participants for an average of 12 years and found that incorporating healthy lifestyle habits was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. This risk reduction was even more significant for participants with Type 2 diabetes.
Study author, Dr. Yingli Lu, Ph.D., of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China, noted to Medical News Today:
"Our findings highlight that although patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing dementia later compared with those without, adherence to an overall healthy lifestyle may greatly reduce this risk."
Non-study author and Alzheimer's researcher, Dr. Jeroen Mahieu, Ph.D., added:
"The most important finding of this study is that adhering to a healthy lifestyle substantially reduces the risk of developing dementia for diabetes patients; significantly more than when you do not have diabetes. This is important given the greater prevalence of dementia among diabetes patients. Yet, due to the nature of the data and the research design, we should be cautious with interpreting these effects as causal."
Study Limitations and Future Research
The study suggests that adopting healthy lifestyle habits can decrease the risk of dementia, particularly for people with Type 2 diabetes. However, it's important to note that the study had several limitations, such as self-reported lifestyle data and lack of data on lifestyle factor changes over time. Additionally, the research team acknowledged that they may have misclassified participants with diabetes or prediabetes, and that future research is needed to determine how combined healthy lifestyle behaviors benefit cognitive outcomes in diabetic individuals.
Nevertheless, the study adds to a growing body of evidence regarding the impact of lifestyle choices on health. Dr. Lu explained to Medical News Today:
"Our data may have important implications for doctors and other medical professionals who treat people with diabetes. They should consider recommending lifestyle changes to their patients. Such changes may not only improve overall health but also contribute to the prevention or delayed onset of dementia in people with diabetes. Future research is needed to determine how combined healthy lifestyle behaviors benefit cognitive outcomes in diabetes and the possible mechanisms."
- The study in Neurology revealed that adhering to healthy habits can help reduce dementia risk for Type 2 diabetics.
- Dementia can make daily life a challenge and while some factors like age and family history are out of our control, others like smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and unmanaged diabetes can be modified.
- A naive approach might assume that dementia is an inevitable consequence for Type 2 diabetics, but the study suggests otherwise.
- The study looked at seven healthy lifestyle habits, such as quitting smoking, regular exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, less sedentary behavior, moderate alcohol consumption, and regular social contact.
- The researchers assigned participants a lifestyle score based on these behaviors and found that incorporating healthy lifestyle habits was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia.
- Even though people with Type 2 diabetes are at a higher risk of developing dementia compared to those without, the study suggests that healthy lifestyle choices can greatly reduce this risk.
- The study, however, did have limitations such as self-reported lifestyle data and lack of data on lifestyle factor changes over time.
- Future research is needed to understand the exact impact of healthy lifestyle choices on dementia risk, especially for people with chronic diseases like Type-2 diabetes, and to determine how combined healthy lifestyle behaviors benefit cognitive outcomes in diabetic individuals.
