Research Identifies 15 Health and Lifestyle Elements That May Raise the Likelihood of Early Dementia

A recent study reveals numerous lifestyle factors could potentially raise your odds of facing early-onset dementia.

Generally, dementia appearing before the age of 65 is classified as young-onset or early dementia.

The study, published last month in JAMA Neurology, identified 15 primary risk factors contributing to the likelihood of developing this condition. Some factors like orthostatic hypotension (a sudden drop in blood pressure after standing up from a lying or sitting position), depression, and alcohol use disorder are modifiable and/or preventable.

However, other risk factors like low socioeconomic status and carrying two copies of ε4 allele (APOE4) - a particular variation of apolipoprotein E gene - are difficult or impossible to alter.

The latest research examined over 350,000 individuals aged under 65 in the UK Biobank, a huge biomedical database, to comprehend the risks of early dementia. The wide range of items analyzed from genetic to environmental aspects led them to pinpoint key factors heightening a person’s risk of young-onset dementia.

“All these risk factors enhance dementia risk as they eventually pave the way to the same foundational mechanisms endangering the brain,” David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, ABIHM, a fellow of the American College of Nutrition and best-selling author, explained to Health.

Perlmutter stated these mechanisms include inflammation and surge activity of damaging chemicals known as free radicals. Furthermore, these factors intimidate brain metabolism, impacting the brain's ability to utilize glucose to power its cells.

He stressed that dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s, stems from disrupted brain metabolism.

Various lifestyle and health factors contributing to young-onset dementia and ways to mitigate the risk of developing the illness are also discussed in the study.

The results supply healthcare professionals with additional insights on averting young-onset dementia, a condition impacting hundreds of thousands annually.

Estimates by the Alzheimer’s Association show the disease’s prevalence, with the number of people diagnosed each year in the U.S. with early-onset Alzheimer’s or relevant dementia ranging from 220,000 to 640,000.

Early-onset dementia tends to be more aggressive than dementia appearing later in life, explained Arman Fesharaki-Zadeh, MD, PhD, a behavioural neurologist, neuropsychiatrist and assistant professor of psychiatry and neurology at Yale School of Medicine.

Addressing the modifiable risk factors at an earlier stage should be prioritized.

Fesharaki-Zadeh elaborated there's a significant chance of significantly lowering one's risk of both young and late-onset dementia if these 15 risk factors are addressed.

Out of the 39 risk factors scrutinized, the researchers highlighted 15 crucial factors significantly raising the risk of young-onset dementia.

Perlmutter pointed out that the same lifestyle tendencies threatening the brain at a younger age also setup older people for dementia in the long run.

Fesharaki-Zadeh added that the factors identified by the researchers to some extent are interrelated.

An individual with an alcohol use disorder is likely to have other associated issues such as malnutrition and vitamin deficiency, frailty and mental illnesses like depression, among others.

These behavioral patterns could lead to a variety of chronic medical conditions, including hypertension, diabetes, and stroke, explains Fesharaki-Zadeh.

For the unalterable risk factors like carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene, Fesharaki-Zadeh shared that approximately 25% of individuals carry at least one copy of the gene.

“Individuals with APOE have a well-established risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “More specifically, if an individual has one copy of APOE4, the person is three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease, and with two copies of APOE4, the risk can rise to 12 times more likely.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 40% of all Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias can potentially be prevented or delayed by modifying lifestyle factors and preventing chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure.

Both Fesharaki-Zadeh and Perlmutter told Health that based on the researchers’ results, as well as prior research, they would recommend people engage in physical exercise to help prevent dementia.

This means sitting less and moving more.

“An active daily physical exercise practice can have far-reaching benefits, which include enhancing neurocognitive function, due to its well-established effects on neurogenesis (formation of new neurons and new synapses), vasculogenesis (formation of new blood vessels), as well as well-known and established mood benefits,” said Fesharaki-Zadeh.

He also suggests that people eat a Mediterranean-based diet, and learn cognitive, mood, and social stimulation techniques.

“Cognitive stimulation could be in the form of formal educational training, as well as [developing] lifelong learning habits, learning new languages, attending seminars, and developing habits such as learning music and dancing,” he said.

Mood stimulation might include the regular practice of stress reduction, such as mindfulness and yoga, while social stimulation is vital to overall mental, cognitive, and physical health.

“In the era of pandemic and now post-pandemic, quality social connections should increasingly be encouraged and practiced,” Fesharaki-Zadeh explained.

Meanwhile, Perlmutter suggests keeping blood sugar under strict control—even if you are not diabetic—and getting adequate, restorative sleep.

“Our lifestyle choices are profoundly influential in terms of how our brain will perform in the future… Importantly, whether we are talking about early or late-onset dementia, the modifiable changes begin to occur as much as three decades before changes in cognitive function are first recognized,” he said.

Ultimately, the time to take preventative action is now.