It is encouraging to know there are ways to reduce the risk of developing a dreaded condition, like one of the more than 100 types of dementia. Being proactive is a productive way to lesson one’s anxiety on this subject. It turns out that lifestyle changes really do improve the odds that one can avoid developing dementia.

The esteemed medical journal, Circulation, recently reported the results of a study of 365,782 people over the age of 50. Scientists were searching for clues in the subjects’ lifestyle choices that either offered protection from, or increased the likelihood of, developing vascular dementia which occurs in 50%-80% of people with Alzheimer’s Disease. Vascular dementia is caused by damaged blood vessels in the brain.

The study’s subjects were evaluated on their “Lifestyle Risk Score” which is based on “Life’s Essential 8”. Those eight factors are: body weight, blood lipids [fats like cholesterol and triglycerides], blood sugar [glucose], blood pressure, diet, physical activity, smoking, and sleep habits.

Investigators particularly focused on subjects’ diet scores, recording servings per day of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, refined grains, fish, processed meats, and unprocessed red meats.

Evaluated for 14 years, those with the highest Lifestyle Risk Scores, had a 40% higher risk of vascular dementia [but not Alzheimer’s Disease] than those with the lowest scores.

This study provides more motivation to eat, and live, as the Blue Zone populations do. All of them are active, and eat a diet rich in colorful vegetables and fruits, whole grains, and legumes, adding very little fat. If they eat animal proteins, they are used in small amounts, like a condiment, to flavor their recipes.

There is one city in the US that can claim to be a Blue Zone, where an unusual number of people live in good health into their nineties and one hundreds. Loma Linda, California has that distinction. Why? Loma Linda was settled by Seventh Day Adventists, whose adherents are vegetarian or vegan. They abstain from alcohol, and many avoid caffeine. And, of course, they do not eat animal flesh.

The evidence continues to speak for itself. Here’s to our good health.

Dateline: Town of Colonie, Albany County, New York’s Capital Region