« Law of the Sea Treaty – “ LOST” | Main | »
September 26, 2007
No. 1 Sign You'll Develop Dementia Later
Obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol levels, lack of exercise and lower levels of education, the factors that place a person at high risk for cardiovascular disease, are also the top signs that a middle-age individual will develop dementia in old age. One of the best ways to predict your risk of dementia in later life is your weight in your early 40s.
The Associated Press and Reuters report that having just one of these risk factors in middle age doubles your chance of developing dementia later. If you have all three, your chances just increased a whopping six fold. That's the word from a new study conducted by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who have developed
the first-ever "risk score" in an attempt to predict future cases of dementia. "This has been done for other diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, but we've never before had a tool like this for estimating the risk of dementia," Dr. Miia Kivipelto, an associate professor at the Aging Research Centre in Stockholm and the study's lead author, told AP.
Is this the new anti-aging beverage? One drink--more than any other--will keep your brain young.
In this study, 1,409 middle-aged people in Finland were followed from 1972 to 1987. They were then re-examined 20 years later for signs of dementia. The four percent who developed dementia had the highest risk factors 20 years earlier. Kivipelto cautions that the results need to be verified by additional research in different populations, but says the risk score the team developed accurately predicted dementia occurrence with 70 percent accuracy.
Posted by Post Scripts at September 26, 2007 09:05 AM
Comments
Is this the new anti-aging beverage? One drink--more than any other--will keep your brain young.
What's the anti-aging Beverage, Jack? ...quick I'm getting older by the second!
Posted by: Tina at September 26, 2007 08:39 PM
TEA!
Posted by: JACK at September 27, 2007 10:20 AM
Just plain ol' regular tea huh? Good news for me, I drink a whole lot of Earl Grey...especially in summer.
Posted by: Tina at September 27, 2007 07:40 PM