A shortlist of environmental factors that may contribute to the risk of developing dementia has been drawn up by experts.<\/p>\n
The list includes exposure to air pollution and a lack of vitamin D, although researchers warned that there are not yet any solid conclusions.<\/p>\n
It has been put together by Edinburgh University’s Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre.<\/p>\n
The centre believes future research should focus on the shortlist.<\/p>\n
Dementia is known to be associated with lifestyle factors such as high blood pressure in mid-life, smoking, diabetes, obesity, depression and low educational attainment, as well as genetic factors.<\/p>\n
But the Edinburgh researchers said a third of dementia risk was unexplained, and they want to determine whether other issues are at play, including the environment.<\/p>\n
The team reviewed dozens of previous studies that considered environmental risk factors linked to dementia.<\/p>\n
They found that a lack of vitamin D – produced by the body through exposure to sunlight – and exposure to air pollution were implicated, along with occupational exposure to some types of pesticide.<\/p>\n
The research suggested that excessive levels of minerals found in drinking water may also be linked to the disease, but the evidence was mixed.<\/p>\n
There is a growing consensus among doctors that a significant proportion of cases could be prevented or delayed by addressing environmental factors linked to the disease.<\/p>\n
The team behind the latest research said future studies should focus on the short list of environmental risk factors flagged up in their study.<\/p>\n
Dr Tom Russ, of the Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Research Centre, said: “Our ultimate goal is to prevent or delay the onset of dementia.<\/p>\n
“Environmental risk factors are an important new area to consider here, particularly since we might be able to do something about them.<\/p>\n
“We found that the evidence is particularly strong for air pollution and vitamin D deficiency. But we really need more research to find out whether these factors are actually causing dementia and how, and if so, what we can do to prevent this.”<\/p>\n
Jim Pearson, director of policy and researcher at Alzheimer Scotland, said: “The research study substantially improves our knowledge and understanding of environmental factors which may increase the risk of developing dementia and provides a basis for further, and more focused, research in this area.<\/p>\n
“Dementia is a global public health priority. There are 90,000 people living with dementia in Scotland and the number is on the rise.<\/p>\n
“We need much more research into the causes of dementia, treatments and supports that allow people to live well with dementia as well as the prevention and cure of dementia.”<\/p>\n
The research, published in the journal BMC Geriatrics, was funded by Alzheimer Scotland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A shortlist of environmental factors that may contribute to the risk of developing dementia has been drawn up by experts. The list includes exposure to air pollution and a lack of vitamin D, although researchers warned that there are not yet any solid conclusions. It has been put together by Edinburgh University’s Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/healthmedicinet.com\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}