Dementia Studies Find Diet, Exercise Matter

By Kelley Luckstein

Dementia Studies Find Diet, Exercise Matter

Two studies published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association add to evidence that long-term lifestyle habits may reduce the risk of mental decline in old age. The first study, a long-term look at 1,880 elderly people in New York City, found that a Mediterranean-type diet and physical activity each were linked to less risk for Alzheimer's disease. The second study, a shorter-term observation of 1,410 patients in France, found some correlation between a Mediterranean-type diet and slower cognitive damage…"This is one of the first studies to tease apart the independent contributions of diet and exercise for dementia prevention," says Ronald Petersen, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was not involved in the research. "It suggests that aging need not be a passive process."

Wall Street Journal by Carrie Porter, 8/12/2009