Today, and every day, roughly 190 Britons will die from dementia – about 1,350 every week – and numbers are steadily and ominously rising.
It is by far our biggest killer, having overtaken heart disease five years ago as fatalities from heart attacks and strokes continue to decline. Within the next few years, more than one million Britons will be living with the degenerative brain condition.
It’s a statistic made all the more shocking when you consider that the dementia death toll is almost four times the number claimed each week at the moment by the Covid-19 pandemic in the UK.
But despite these grim figures there is hope, as the latest medical evidence suggests that whether you develop dementia is not simply down to fate.
Although incurable, a staggering 40 percent of cases could be prevented in the first place, according to a global report revealed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Congress last week.
Lifestyle factors, such as diet, lack of exercise – and even hearing loss – are responsible for a whopping 340,000 of Britain’s 850,000 dementia cases, says the report. The leading scientists behind the new study identified 12 risk factors that make us more likely to develop the disease. Crucially, it’s within our power to address each one of them if we want to stay healthy into old age.
The risks begin to mount in childhood, the report said, but even making small lifestyle changes into your 70s could have a significant impact.
The report represents a huge leap forward in the understanding of the disease. Three years ago, the same research group became the first to prove how much of dementia is preventable, revealing the role of obesity, smoking, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Hearing loss, if untreated, depression and too little exercise also contribute to an individual’s risk, while lack of education and social isolation were also factors flagged by the experts.
Now, three more avoidable dangers have been added to that list based on new data: traumatic head injury, air pollution and heavy alcohol consumption.
<<Print>>