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" Lifestyle changes and treatment of chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure could potentially prevent more than half of all cases of Alzheimer&amp;#039;s disease, US scientists have claimed. Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Centre analysed data from previous studies involving hundreds of thousands of people. They found that low education and smoking were the most significant modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer&amp;#039;s disease, followed by physical inactivity, depression, high blood pressure in middle-age, diabetes and mid-life obesity. According to the researchers, these risk factors are linked to 51 per cent of cases of Alzheimer&amp;#039;s disease around the world. Lead researcher and mental health expert Dr Deborah Barnes said: &amp;#039;What&amp;#039;s exciting is that this suggests that some very simple lifestyle changes, such as increasing physical activity and quitting smoking, could have a tremendous impact on preventing Alzheimer&amp;#039;s and other dementias.&amp;#039; Dr Barnes&amp;#039; findings are published in the Lancet Neurology and could have important implications in the UK, where around 465,000 people are thought to be living with Alzheimer&amp;#039;s. Dr Anne Corbett, the Alzheimer&amp;#039;s Society&amp;#039;s research manager, said: &amp;#039;This study highlights the scale of the impact of lifestyle factors on our risk of developing Alzheimer&amp;#039;s - and brings home how many people could potentially avoid this disease if we tackle them.&amp;#039; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-living/news/a21248/majority-of-alzheimers-cases-could-be-prevented/>