Modifying Risk of Dementia for Type 2 Diabetes Sufferers: Adopting These 7 Habits Could Make a Difference
Type 2 Diabetics Can Lower Dementia Risk with Healthy Lifestyle Changes
Hey there! Let's chat about how you can potentially reduce your risk of developing dementia if you have type 2 diabetes. Recent findings from a study published in Neurology suggest that certain healthy lifestyle choices can help lower the risk of dementia for folks with diabetes.
Healthy Lifestyle, Healthy Brain
Dementia isn't a walk in the park. It's a chronic condition thatprogresses over time, making daily activities difficult. Since there's no cure for dementia, there's lots of interest in ways to minimize risk. And guess what? The study we're talking about found that for people with diabetes, incorporating certain healthy habits is linked to a decreased risk of dementia.
Dementia is a blanket term for disorders that hinder memory, thinking, and reason. It usually worsens with time, impacting daily life and independence. Some risk factors for dementia are beyond our control, like age, heredity, or gender. But there are others we can modify, like smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol use, or poor diet.
Type 2 diabetes is also a risk factor for dementia, particularly in the elderly. But the cool news is that research is on-going on how healthy lifestyle changes might help manage diabetes and lower dementia risk.
Lifestyle and Dementia: What Works?
Researchers for this current study took a close look at how seven healthy habits affected dementia risk. These habits included not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet, getting sufficient sleep, taking part in less sedentary behavior, and having frequent social contacts.
Using data from the U.K. Biobank, researchers studied participants aged 60 or older without dementia at the study's start. They left out people with type 1 diabetes for a closer focus on people with type 2 diabetes.
Researchers assigned participants a 'healthy lifestyle score' based on how they stacked up in each category. For example, someone was considered physically active if they engaged in at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity weekly.
The study included over 160,000 participants, with more than 12,000 having diabetes. They followed the participants for an average of 12 years, discovering that healthy lifestyle habits were connected to a lower risk of dementia. This reduction seemed even more prominent among those with diabetes.
Dr. Yingli Lu, Ph.D., one of the study's authors, told Medical News Today:
"Our findings suggest that although patients with diabetes are at a higher risk of developing dementia compared to those without, adhering to an overall healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce this risk."
Jeroen Mahieu, Ph.D., an Alzheimer's researcher not involved in the study, emphasized to MNT:
"The most significant 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 don't have diabetes. However, due to the nature of the data and the research design, we should be cautious with interpreting these effects as causal."
Limitations and Future Research
The study suggests that healthy lifestyle habits may lower the risk of dementia, especially for people with diabetes. However, the study also had some limitations.
For one, lifestyle data was self-reported, which increased the chances of errors in data collection. Secondly, the researchers only collected lifestyle data at the study's start and didn't collect data on lifestyle changes over time. Also, they didn't collect data about lifestyle factors before someone developed diabetes.
The researchers also noted that participants who missed data were more likely to have lower education and socioeconomic status, which may have impacted the results. Based on the data collection methods, the research team acknowledged that they could have misclassified participants with diabetes or prediabetes as not having diabetes.
The study involved mainly Caucasian participants, so more diverse studies are needed. Lastly, while several factors were adjusted for, unknown or unmeasured factors weren't accounted for, and the authors acknowledged this.
It appears that sticking to a healthy lifestyle can have important implications for folks with diabetes. These changes can improve overall health and potentially contribute to dementia prevention among this population. Future research needs to explore how combined healthy behaviors impact cognitive outcomes in diabetes and the possible mechanisms behind it.
- The study in Neurology suggests that for people with type 2 diabetes, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk of dementia.
- Dementia is a chronic condition that progresses over time, affecting memory, thinking, and reason, making daily activities difficult.
- Certain risk factors for dementia, like smoking, obesity, excessive alcohol use, or poor diet, can be modified to potentially reduce the risk of dementia.
- In the study, researchers looked at seven healthy habits, including moderate alcohol consumption, regular physical activity, eating a healthy diet, getting sufficient sleep, being less sedentary, and having frequent social contacts.
- The study, using data from the U.K. Biobank, found that these healthy habits were linked to a lower risk of dementia, particularly for those with diabetes.
- Dr. Yingli Lu, one of the study's authors, stated that adhering to a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of dementia for those with diabetes.
- Jeroen Mahieu, an Alzheimer's researcher not involved in the study, pointed out that while the study suggests a link, the effects should be interpreted cautiously due to the study's design.
- The study had limitations, such as self-reported lifestyle data and a lack of data on lifestyle changes over time, and future research is needed to further explore the impact of healthy behaviors on cognitive outcomes in diabetes.
