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# Healthy lifestyle prevents dementia like Alzheimer's
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/dementia_lifestyle_082620121026/
- Published: 2012-08-26T11:25:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T15:59:25.000Z
- Description: Among 3,468 Japanese-American men followed from midlife in Hawaii, those who avoided smoking, kept BMI low, stayed active and ate well were 63 percent less likely to develop dementia overall. For Alzheimer's alone, none of the four habits reached significance.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Lifestyle, Health News, #vivvo-import

By David Liu, PHD

Sunday Aug 26, 2012 ([foodconsumer.org](http://www.foodconsumer.org/)) -- Following a healthy lifestyle is likely to reduce risk of developing dementia like vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society.

According to study authors, the healthy lifestyle that is associated with low risk of dementia includes four elements, non-smoking, having body mass index smaller than 25 kg/m2, physically active and having a healthy diet which is higher in fish, fruit, vegetables, ratio of monounsaturated fat or oil like olive oil to saturated fat like animal fat, legumes, and cereals and lower in meat and dairy products.

Rebecca P. Gelber MD of Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Healthcare System in Honolulu, Hawaii and colleagues conducted the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study in Oahu, Hawaii involving 3468 low-risk Japanese American men at a mean age of 53 years in 1965 and 1968 and found body mass index was the most strongly associated with overall dementia risk. Those with greater than 25 kg/m2 were 87 percent more likely to develop overall dementia which include vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease, compared to those with a body mass index lower than 22.6 kg/m2.

Smoking status, body mass index and physical activity status were all associated with vascular dementia while none of the four lifestyle elements were significantly associated with Alzheimer's disease alone.

Men who did not smoke, had a low body mass index, were physically active and followed a healthy diet as defined in the study were found 63 percent less likely to develop overall dementia, but only insignificantly less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease alone.

The researchers concluded "Among Japanese-American men, having a healthy lifestyle in midlife is associated with a lower risk of dementia in late life."

Previous studies, according to the authors, have shown adherence to a healthy lifestyle may prevent the development of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus. It is also known that several lifestyle parameters such as obesity in midlife, smoking and physical inactivity were correlated with increased risk of dementia.

There is no cure for dementia.