Experts have urged that eating two and a half chicken breasts a day from middle age could dramatically reduce the risk of developing dementia, a memory-robbing disease.
Getting enough protein is one of the “four pillars” of prevention identified by researchers in a new report, which also includes exercise, treating long-term illnesses, and maintaining strong social ties with friends and family.
These factors are crucial because they help an older person avoid frailty, which Australian research recently found could predict whether they will develop dementia almost a decade before a diagnosis.
Frailty is a medical term for people who, primarily for age-related reasons, struggle to recover from common health problems, such as bad colds or an injury.
This means that even a relatively minor fall or infection can become potentially serious, with frail adults at greater risk of becoming disabled or needing hospital admission or long-term care.
In a recent study, led by experts at the University of Queensland, scientists found that people diagnosed with dementia showed signs of frailty four to nine years before their cognitive symptoms began to appear.
Analyzing data from four studies of 30,000 British and American people, the authors found that frailty increased the risk of a subsequent dementia diagnosis by 18 to 73 percent.
One of the study’s authors, David Ward, a Queensland health researcher, said medscape: “We have found that every four or five additional health problems increase the risk of developing dementia by an average of 40 percent.”
In a recent study, led by experts at the University of Queensland, scientists found that frailty increased among people four to nine years before their dementia diagnosis. stock image
But the researchers, who published their findings in the journal JAMA Neurologydescribed this as potentially good news.
This is because frailty can be prevented or delayed, which, if the link between the condition and dementia is true, means people could also reduce their risk of dementia.
Ward suggested adhering to what he called “four pillars of frailty prevention and management.”
The first was a healthy diet packed with protein to build muscle.
NHS advice says older Britons should consider eating between 1 and 1.5g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, in part to combat the effects of aging on muscles.
Examples of good sources of protein are legumes, fish, eggs and lean cuts of meat, the health service advises.
The second pillar is to continue exercising.
The NHS recommends Britons aged 65 and over do 150 minutes of moderate activity, such as walking or cycling, or alternatively 75 minutes of vigorous activity such as running or swimming, each week.
This is in addition to doing muscle-strengthening activities, such as lifting weights or yoga, twice a week.
Being unable to learn new tasks and having difficulty focusing on a single task may be a sign of dementia.
The third pillar involves ensuring that chronic health conditions, which include long-term chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, are adequately treated with medications.
The last pillar is maintaining social ties. These links could be with friends, family or the community in general.
Social links not only help to improve mental health and wellbeing, but can also help you stay active, for example by being a member of a walking or gardening club.
While the new study is not the first to link frailty and dementia, experts caution that the data does not mean that frailty causes the disorder.
Rather, it could be a biological warning sign of a person at risk.
One of the key limitations of the study was that the authors cannot explain some of the known risk factors for dementia, such as genetic links.
The NHS has long advised people to eat healthily and watch their weight to reduce the risk of developing dementia with high blood pressure problems due to poor diet and dementia-related obesity.
People are also advised to avoid drinking and smoking for similar reasons.