A 'Heart Healthy' Diet and Ongoing, Moderate Physical Activity May Protect Against...

A 'Heart Healthy' Diet and Ongoing, Moderate Physical Activity May Protect
Against Cognitive Decline as We Age

VIENNA, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eating a "heart healthy" diet and
maintaining or increasing participation in moderate physical activity may help
preserve our memory and thinking abilities as we age, according to new
research reported today at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International
Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090529/ICADLOGO )

"We can't do anything about aging or family history, but research continues to
show us that there are lifestyle decisions we all can make to keep our brains
healthier, and that also may lower our risk of memory decline as we age," said
William Thies, PhD, Chief Medical & Scientific Officer at the Alzheimer's
Association.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Eating Pattern May Reduce
Age-Related Cognitive Decline
The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is often recommended
by physicians to people with high blood pressure or pre-hypertension. The DASH
diet eating plan has been proven to lower blood pressure in studies sponsored
by the National Institutes of Health. High blood pressure is considered a risk
factor for Alzheimer's and dementia.

Heidi Wengreen, RD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Nutrition at
UtahStateUniversity, and colleagues examined associations between how closely
people adhered to the DASH diet and risk of cognitive decline and dementia
among older participants in the Cache County Study on Memory, Health and
Aging.

In 1995, 3,831 study participants 65 years of age or older completed a survey
that included a food frequency questionnaire and cognitive assessment.
Cognitive function was checked again during four assessments over 11 years
using the ModifiedMini-MentalState examination (3MS), which is graded on a 100
point scale. A DASH diet adherence score was created based on consumption
levels of nine food-group/nutrient components -- fruit, vegetables,
nut/legumes, whole grains, low-fat dairy, sodium, sweets, non-fish meat, and
fish. Participants were ranked by DASH score into five groups, or quintiles.

The researchers found that higher DASH scores were associated with higher
scores for cognitive functioning at the beginning of the study and over time.
Those in the highest quintile scored 1.42 points higher at baseline and 1.81
points higher after 11 years on the 3MS than did those in the lowest quintile
of the DASH score (p-values <0.001).

They also found that four of the nine food-group/nutrient components used to
create the DASH score were independently associated with 3MS scores --
vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, nut/legumes. The scientists created a
diet adherence score based on just these four components which they then
tested for association with changes in cognitive abilities on the 3MS. Those
in the highest quintile scored 1.72 points higher at baseline and 3.73 points
higher after 11 years than did those in the lowest quintile of the
four-component score (p-values <0.001).

"Our results suggest that including whole grains, vegetables, low-fat dairy
foods, and nuts in one's diet may offer benefits for cognition in late life,"
Wengreen said. "However, we need more research before we can confidently say
how much of these foods to include in your diet to experience some benefit."

Maintaining or Increasing Activity Levels May Slow Cognitive Decline in
Elderly
Studies have found that older adults who are physically active may experience
slower rates of cognitive decline. Less is known about the impact of changes
in physical activity levels on rate of cognitive decline.

Deborah E. Barnes, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the
University of California, San Francisco, and a geriatrics researcher at the
San Francisco VA Medical Center, and colleagues studied changes in levels of
both physical activity and cognitive function over seven years in 3,075 white
and black elders aged 70-79 years in the Health, Aging and Body Composition
Study. Physical activity was assessed based on self-reported number of minutes
walked per week at the beginning of the study and after two, four, and seven
years of follow-up. Participants were classified at each time point as
sedentary (0 minutes per week), low (less than 150 minutes per week) or high
(150 minutes per week or more). Changes over time were classified as
consistently sedentary, maintaining (low or high), decreasing, or
increasing/fluctuating. Cognitive function was assessed using the 3MS.

The researchers found that 21% of study participants were consistently
sedentary, 12% maintained their activity levels, 26% had declining levels, and
41% had increasing or fluctuating levels. After adjustment for age, sex, race,
education, study site, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, alcohol consumption
and baseline 3MS score, they found that the mean rate of decline in 3MS scores
was 0.62 points/year in those who were consistently sedentary, 0.54
points/year (p=0.30) in those with declining activity levels, 0.44 points/year
(p=0.01) in those with increasing/fluctuating activity levels, and 0.40
points/year (p=0.04) in those who maintained their activity levels.

"We found that older adults who were sedentary throughout the study had the
lowest levels of cognitive function at the beginning and experienced the
fastest rate of cognitive decline," Barnes said. "Cognitive decline also was
faster in those whose physical activity levels consistently declined during
the study period."

According to the researchers, sedentary elders who began new aerobic exercise
programs experienced improvements in cognitive function, especially the
ability to process complex information quickly. "Sedentary individuals should
be encouraged to engage in physical activity at least occasionally," Barnes
said. "People who are currently active should be encouraged to maintain or
increase their activity levels."

Moderate Long-Term Physical Activity May Improve Late Life Cognition;
Long-Term Strenuous Activity May Increase Risk of Cognitive Impairment
Long-term strenuous physical activity has been shown to decrease lifetime
exposure to ovarian hormones in women and has been found to play a protective
role against breast cancer. However reduction in ovarian hormone exposure has
been associated with increased risk of cognitive impairment. At the same time,
long-term physical activity is associated with improved cognition but the
intensity required to preserve cognition is not known.

Mary C. Tierney, PhD, CPsych, Professor of Family and Community Medicine at
the University of Toronto, and Senior Scientist and Director, Geriatric
Research Unit, Brain Sciences Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre,
and colleagues sought to examine the associations between both long-term
strenuous and moderate activity levels and cognition in recently
postmenopausal women.

Study participants were 90 women aged 50-63 years, one to 10 years post
natural menopause, with no history of breast cancer, HRT use, psychiatric
disorder, dementia or other neurological condition. Participants gave details
on the amount of their strenuous and moderate physical recreational activities
from high school to menopause. Eight memory and brain function tests were
administered to all participants.

After adjusting for age, education, reproductive years, cigarette smoking,
alcohol consumption, parity, and periods of amenorrhea, the researchers found
that long-term strenuous activity was consistently associated with poorer
performance on all eight of the tests; with statistically significant results
on tests of semantic memory, working memory, delayed verbal recall, and
sustained attention (p <0.05). Moderate physical activity was consistently
associated with better performance on all eight of the tests, with
statistically significant results on cognitive flexibility, working memory,
and sustained attention (p <0.05).

"Our results suggest that long-term strenuous activity may increase the risk
of cognitive impairment in recently postmenopausal women," Tierney said. "On
the other hand, moderate long-term physical activity may improve later life
cognition. These preliminary findings have important implications for women's
health and support the need for large-scale studies including both women and
men."

Alzheimer's Risk Gene May Reduce Benefits of Physical Activity to Cognitive
Ability
While the relationship of physical activity with cognitive performance as we
age is a subject of considerable research, much less is known about how this
relationship is impacted by the Alzheimer's risk gene Apolipoprotein E (APOE).
The APOE gene comes in three types, or alleles, known as e2, e3, and e4. Each
person gets one type of APOE from each parent, making the possible
combinations: e2/e2, e2/e3, e2/e4, e3/e3, e3/e4, e4/e4. Having two copies of
e4 conveys the highest risk for Alzheimer's; having one e4 also raises one's
risk. E3 is the most common type. E2, though rare, is thought to be
protective.

Thomas Obisesan, MD, MPH, FAAFP, Chief of the Division of Geriatrics at
HowardUniversityHospital and professor of medicine at Howard University
College of Medicine, Washington, D.C., and colleagues examined this issue
using data from The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES III, 1988-1994). They identified 1,799 men and women age 60 and older
who had data on levels of aerobic-related physical activity (AR-PA), such as
walking, jogging, bicycling or swimming; mental status test scores; and APOE
genotype.

In their analysis, the researchers found that physical activity was associated
with enhanced cognitive function, and that this relationship was
differentially influenced by the person's APOE genotype: non-E4 carriers and
people with one copy of E4 performed better than people with two copies of E4.
After adjusting for age, ethnicity, severe chronic medical illness, lean body
mass, and education, aerobic physical activity continued to show a
statistically significant association with cognitive function in non-E4
carriers but not in people with E4 (any combination)

"In our nationally representative sample, persons who reported higher levels
of aerobic physical activity had better memory than those who reported no such
activity. This was especially true in those people who didn't have the APOE-e4
Alzheimer's risk gene," Obisesan said.

"Because physical activity is a low-cost, low-risk, readily available
intervention, it may prove to be an important public health strategy to reduce
or prevent memory loss and other symptoms of mental decline in the elderly.
Future rigorous clinical trials are needed to confirm these findings,"
Obisesan added.

About ICAD 2009
The 2009 Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's
Disease (ICAD 2009) brings together more than 3,000 researchers from 70
countries to share groundbreaking research and information on the cause,
diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related
disorders. As a part of the Association's research program, ICAD 2009 serves
as a catalyst for generating new knowledge about dementia and fostering a
vital, collegial research community. ICAD 2009 will be held in Vienna, Austria
at Messe Wien Exhibition and CongressCenter from July 11-16.

About the Alzheimer's Association
The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in
Alzheimer care, support and research. Our mission is to eliminate Alzheimer's
disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and
support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the
promotion of brain health. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer's. For more
information, visit www.alz.org.

-- Heidi Wengreen, et al -- DASH diet adherence scores and cognitive
decline and dementia among aging men and women: CacheCounty study of
Memory Health and Aging (Funders: National Institute on Aging, Utah
State University Agriculture Experiment Station)
-- Deborah Barnes, et al - The impact of changes in physical activity
levels on rate of cognitive decline in a biracial cohort of
non-demented
elders (Funder: National Institutes of Health)
-- Mary Tierney, et al - Intensity of long-term physical activity and
later
life cognition in postmenopausal women (Funders: Women's Health
Student Experience, Women's College Hospital, University of
Toronto; Geriatric Research Unit, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre)

-- Thomas Obisesan, et al -Aerobic-related physical activity interacting
with apolipoprotein E genotypes, is associated with better cognitive
function in a nationally representative sample: The Third National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) (Funder: National
Institutes of Health)

All materials to be presented at the 2009 Alzheimer's Association
International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) are embargoed for
publication and broadcast until the date and time of presentation at the
International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, unless the Alzheimer's
Association provides written notice of change of embargo date/time in advance.

SOURCE Alzheimer's Association

Alzheimer's Association media line, +1-312-335-4078, media@alz.org; or ICAD
2009 press room, July 11-16: +43 (0)1 931020 7501