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By Amy Norton
NEW YORK, Mar 22 (Reuters Health) - Although exercise is usually promoted for weight loss and better heart health, there is growing evidence that regular physical activity helps ward off mental declines as people age, and may even protect against Alzheimer's disease. A new study out of Canada suggests that exercise cuts the risk of Alzheimer's and less-devastating mental losses, particularly in women.
In a 5-year study of men and women aged 65 and older, researchers found that exercisers were less likely to develop Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, and were less likely to see a drop-off in their mental abilities. And the more a person exercised, the greater the protection for the brain.
People with the highest activity levels were half as likely as inactive individuals to develop Alzheimer's, and were around 40% less likely to suffer any dementia or mental impairment, the report indicates.
The findings are published in the March issue of the Archives of Neurology. Danielle Laurin of Laval University in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, led the study.
Previous research has suggested exercise helps people retain their mental prowess as they age, and may even stave off Alzheimer's and other dementia. It has been suggested that because exercise helps maintain healthy blood flow and lowers high blood pressure and cholesterol, it may protect the brain just as it does the heart and other organs.
But other researchers have failed to uncover a protective effect of exercise. In this study, Laurin's team analyzed data from a national study that collected exercise and health information on about 4,600 older adults over a 5-year period.
The investigators found that the more activity participants reported at the study's start, the less likely they were to suffer mental decline. People who exercised vigorously at least three times per week were considered highly active and had the lowest Alzheimer's risk. But those who engaged in light or moderate exercise also saw significant cuts in their risks for Alzheimer's and mental decline.
Women got the lion's share of these benefits. Although there was an association between exercise and lowered risk of mental decline among men, the researchers report, the link was not nearly as strong as that for women. The reasons are unclear.
These findings are important because "right now, we don't have a lot of protective factors" against Alzheimer's and dementia, Dr. Neil Buckholtz of the National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, Maryland, said in an interview with Reuters Health.
Although other studies on this relationship have turned up conflicting evidence, Buckholtz said the Canadian study is the largest one he knows of. He noted that it also appears to be the first to show such broad-ranging effects of exercise-protecting against both the profound dementia of Alzheimer's to less-serious dips in mental skills.
According to Buckholtz, it remains unclear what types of exercise are most beneficial and whether life-long exercise or exercise during old age is more important. Teasing out these details is the next step in this area of research, he said.
SOURCE: Archives of Neurology 2001;58:498-504.
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