CREDIT: Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime Up to half of
Alzheimer's disease cases worldwide are potentially attributable
to seven preventable risk factors, a new study suggests. The
findings show that Alzheimer's cases could be reduced if people
quit smoking, increased their physical activity, enhanced their
mental activity, controlled their blood pressure and diabetes,
and managed their obesity and depression. Globally, an estimated
33.9 million people have Alzheimer's, but that number could be
reduced by 3 million if there was a 25 percent reduction in all
seven of these risk factors, the researchers found . A 10
percent reduction in these seven factors could prevent 1.1
million cases, they said. The number of worldwide cases is
expected to triple over the next 40 years. "Given the current
absence of disease-modifying treatments, as well as increasing
awareness that symptoms develop over many years or even decades,
there has been growing interest in identification of effective
strategies for prevention of