Memory loss (遗忘) is very common as people get old. A 10-year-long study of the elders in China has found that a healthy lifestyle is connected to slower memory loss even when people carry a risky gene (高危基因) for Alzheimer's (阿尔茨海默氏症). Researchers followed 29,000 people aged at least 60 years for 10 years. About 50 percent of the participants were women.
At the beginning of the study in 2009, the researchers tested the participants' memory with the Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT听觉词语学习测验). They were also tested for the most common gene connected with Alzheimer's. Around 20 percent of the participants were carriers of the risky 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 group with good habits and the lowest in the group where people usually have an unhealthy lifestyle. In a word, the participants with healthier lifestyles, even when they were risky gene carriers, had a slower rate of memory loss than the participants with unhealthy lifestyles.
The researchers said that they studied the relevance (相关性) between lifestyle factors and their effects for an entire 10 years and offered important information to protect the elders against memory loss. The results about the risky gene carriers are still positive because healthy lifestyle risks are related to a slower rate of memory loss, even though there is genetic risk.
