Professor Toshiharu Ninomiya A new study led by Kyushu University and RIKEN, published on May 21 in Alzheimer\u2019s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, examines whether favorable modifiable risk factors (mRF)\u2014behaviors or conditions that people can change or control\u2014can lower dementia risk even among individuals with high genetic susceptibility.<\/p>\n To explore this, the researchers analyzed data from 9,605 community-dwelling Japanese adults aged 65 and older. They determined each participant’s APOE \u03b54 genotypes, a primary genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, and calculated the mRF score based on lifestyle and health-related factors. This allowed the team to evaluate how genetic predisposition and lifestyle choices jointly interact to influence dementia risk.<\/p>\n The results showed that dementia risk rose progressively with the number of APOE \u03b54 alleles. Since humans inherit one allele of each gene from each parent, a person can carry zero, one, or two APOE \u03b54 alleles. Individuals carrying two alleles, known as homozygotes, had over 10-fold higher dementia risk than noncarriers.<\/p>\n Notably, among individuals with one or no APOE \u03b54 alleles, maintaining a healthier profile with lower mRF scores was linked to a significantly lower risk of dementia. In contrast, among individuals with two APOE \u03b54 alleles, dementia risk did not differ significantly between those with lower and higher mRF scores.<\/p>\n Brain MRI scans supported these findings. Among those with one or no alleles of the gene, lower mRF scores were associated with less brain atrophy and fewer white matter lesions\u2014areas of damaged tissue in the brain that are linked to cognitive decline and dementia. In contrast, individuals with two alleles of the gene exhibited greater brain atrophy and more extensive tissue damage regardless of their lifestyle profile.<\/p>\n These findings suggest that maintaining favorable lifestyle and health conditions can effectively mitigate dementia risk, even among individuals carrying a single APOE \u03b54 allele. This underscores the importance of population-based prevention strategies focused on managing vascular and lifestyle risk factors.<\/p>\n \u201cAmong individuals carrying one APOE \u03b54 allele, as in those carrying no APOE \u03b54 alleles, favorable management of risk factors may help reduce the risk of dementia,\u201d says Professor Toshiharu Ninomiya from Kyushu University\u2019s Faculty of Medical Sciences, who led the study. \u201cOn the other hand, for individuals carrying two APOE \u03b54 alleles, earlier intervention as well as new preventive or therapeutic approaches beyond lifestyle and health management may warrant consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n Toshiharu Ninomiya, Professor<\/a>
\nFaculty of Medical Sciences<\/span><\/strong>
\nFukuoka, Japan\u2014With dementia cases expected to nearly triple worldwide by 2050, researchers are increasingly focused on identifying ways to prevent or delay the disease. While lifestyle and health-related factors, such as blood pressure control and physical activity, influence dementia risk, genetics also play a major role. Currently, it is unclear if maintaining a favorable lifestyle reduces dementia risk equally across different genetic backgrounds.<\/p>\nResearch-related inquiries<\/h4>\n
\nFaculty of Engineering<\/a>
\nContact information can also be found in the full release<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large Japanese study suggests that favorable lifestyle and health conditions are linked to lower dementia risk in people with no or one APOE \u03b54 allele, while those with two alleles may require different preventive or therapeutic approaches Professor Toshiharu Ninomiya Faculty of Medical Sciences Fukuoka, Japan\u2014With dementia cases expected to nearly triple worldwide by […]","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[43],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31589"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31597,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31589\/revisions\/31597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdgs.kyushu-u.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}