Reducing Risk of Dementia for Type 2 Diabetes Sufferers: Adopting These 7 Habits
Dialing in on type 2 diabetes' impact on dementia risk, a fresh study published in Neurology has churned up some interesting findings. It appears people with this type of diabetes who make concerted efforts towards a healthy lifestyle may actually reduce their chances of facing dementia by a significant margin.
Dementia and its risk factors
Dementia, a condition affecting memory, thinking, and reasoning, is a serious concern for many as there's no known cure. While some risks, such as age and genetics, remain out of our control, others can be managed with wise choices. For instance, smoking, excessive drinking, obesity, and lack of physical activity are all known risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Beware, diabetes—particularly type 2 diabetes—has also been identified as a potential risk factor for dementia. Collaborating closely with healthcare professionals to maintain diabetes control is undoubtedly a crucial step. Researchers continue to investigate how healthy lifestyle changes can juggle both diabetes management and dementia risk reduction.
Type 2 diabetes, dementia, and lifestyle factors
In this latest study, researchers inspected the effects of seven healthy lifestyle habits on dementia risk. The habits under study were:
- Exing out tobacco: puffing away those cancer sticks
- Moderate tippling: enjoying an occasional tipple but not taking it too far
- Getting physical: ditching the couch for a regular workout routine
- Croning the right grub: filling your plate with wholesome, balanced meals
- Zzz-worthy rest: prioritizing quality shut-eye
- Cutting down sedentary time: nixing the couch potato life
- Putting social butterfly wings on: keeping those social circles buzzing
They utilized the U.K. Biobank as their data source. They gathered participants aged 60 years and over without dementia at the start of the study. Specifically, they ruled out those with type 1 diabetes to hone in on individuals with type 2 diabetes.
The researchers allocated participants a healthy lifestyle score based on the seven aforementioned behavior factors. If, say, someone squeezed in at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of intense activity per week, they earned a Gold Star.
In all, the study encompassed more than 160,000 participants, including approximately 12,000 with diabetes. Over the span of 12 years, they traced the participants' health. Excitingly, they found that incorporating healthy lifestyle habits was tied to a reduced risk of dementia. But this reduction was even more noticeable for people with diabetes.
Dr. Yingli Lu, Ph.D., of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine in China expressed to Medical News Today:
"Our findings underscore that, although people with diabetes have an elevated risk of developing dementia compared to those without, sticking to an overall healthy lifestyle may dramatically diminish that risk."
Jeroen Mahieu, Ph.D., a researcher unaffiliated with the study, shared his insights to Medical News Today:
"The principal takeaway of this study is that adhering to a healthy lifestyle drastically lowers the risk of dementia for diabetes patients—significantly more than for those without diabetes. This finding assumes importance considering the higher prevalence of dementia among diabetes patients. Nevertheless, given the nature of the data and research design, we need to be cautious about interpreting these effects as definitive."
Study limitations and areas for continued research
Although the study hints at a correlation between healthy lifestyle habits and reduced dementia risk, particularly for people with diabetes, it does have its limitations.
To start, lifestyle behaviors were self-reported, leaving room for potential mistakes in the data collection. Secondly, the researchers gathered lifestyle factor data at the beginning of the study but didn't collect data on changes in these factors over time. Furthermore, they didn't collect data about lifestyle factors for participants prior to their diabetes diagnosis.
Additionally, the researchers stated that participants they had to exclude due to missing data tended to have lower education and socioeconomic levels, which may have affected the findings. In light of these data collection methods, the research team recognized that they could have mischaracterized participants with diabetes or pre-diabetes as not having diabetes.
Although several confounding factors were taken into account, like medication use, the authors admitted that there could be undetected or unquantified factors yet unaccounted for. Lastly, since the study included primarily Caucasian participants, research involving more diverse populations will be essential in the future.
Despite these limitations, the study adds valuable information to the ongoing discussion regarding the impact of lifestyle decisions on health outcomes. Dr. Lu elucidated further to Medical News Today:
"Our findings may have critical implications for medical professionals who work with diabetes patients. By advocating for lifestyle changes, they might not merely improve overall health but also facilitate the prevention or delayed onset of dementia among their patients with diabetes. Future studies are necessary to understand how making a combined switch to healthy lifestyle behaviors impacts cognitive abilities in people with diabetes and the underlying mechanisms."
- The study published in Neurology suggests that people with type 2 diabetes who adopt a healthy lifestyle can significantly lower their risk of dementia.
- Dementia, which affects memory, thinking, and reasoning, has no known cure and certain risks, like age and genetics, are out of one's control. Other risks, such as smoking, excessive drinking, obesity, and lack of physical activity, can be managed.
- Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, has been identified as a potential risk factor for dementia, and maintaining diabetes control with the help of healthcare professionals is crucial.
- The latest study explored the effects of seven healthy lifestyle habits on dementia risk, including exercising, moderate drinking, a balanced diet, quality sleep, reducing sedentary time, socializing, and avoiding tobacco.
- The study, which used data from the U.K. Biobank, found that incorporating these healthy habits was tied to a reduced risk of dementia, particularly for people with diabetes.
- Dr. Yingli Lu, Ph.D., of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, stated that maintaining an overall healthy lifestyle could dramatically decrease the risk of dementia for people with diabetes.
- Jeroen Mahieu, Ph.D., a researcher unaffiliated with the study, emphasized that while the study hints at a correlation between healthy lifestyle habits and reduced dementia risk, particularly for people with diabetes, further research is necessary.
- The study has limitations, such as self-reported lifestyle behaviors, limited data on changes in lifestyle factors over time, and potential mischaracterization of participants with diabetes or pre-diabetes due to missing data. Future studies involving more diverse populations will be essential to build upon these findings.
