Memory loss is a common part of aging. A decade-long study of older adults in China has found that a healthy lifestyle is linked to slower memory loss even when people carry a risky gene for Alzheimer's(阿尔茨海默氏症). Researchers from China's National Center for Neurological Disorders and other medical organizations followed 29,000 people aged at least 60 years for up to 10 years. Forty-nine percent of the participants were women.
At the beginning of the study in 2009, the researchers tested the participants memory function with the Auditory Verbal Learning Test(AVLT 听觉词语学习测验). They were also tested for the APOE gene, the most common gene linked with Alzheimer's. Around 20 percent of the participants were carriers of the risk gene. The participants received tests in 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019. In the follow-ups, six healthy lifestyle factors were analyzed: a healthy diet, regular physical exercise, active social contact, active cognitive activity, non-smoking and never drinking alcohol.
The results showed that the AVLT scores continuously decreased over the 10 years. But the highest test scores were in the favorable group and the lowest in the group where people usually have an unhealthy lifestyle. The participants with favorable and average lifestyles, even when they were APOE carriers, had a slower rate of memory loss than the participants with unhealthy lifestyles.
The researchers said that they studied the contribution of each lifestyle factor and their combined effects in a large sample size over an entire 10 years and offered important information to protect older adults against memory loss.
The results about the APOE carriers also provide a positive outlook that healthy lifestyle risks are related to a slower rate of memory loss, regardless of the genetic risk.
