In a Japanese study recently published in the journal, Journal
of Biological Chemistry, the researchers found that in mice, doing regular
exercise helped “reduce” the formation of the kind of plaque in the brain that
is associated with the human form of Alzheimer’s disease.
Not only that, the researchers claim that mice that had
been put on a high-fat diet and consequently suffered memory loss (happens in
humans, too, I’m afraid) also enjoyed improved memory as a consequence of
starting on an exercise program.
Interestingly, if the mice on the high-fat diet were also
switched to a healthier diet, that factor didn’t add anything to the benefits
of the exercise for their memories.
In other words, exercise alone trumped the effect of
exercise and healthy diet.
Anyway, bottom line is simple: the more we learn about
memory loss and dementia, the more we learn that the risk factors for those
problems are very similar – if not nearly identical – to the major lifestyle
risk factors for most other chronic conditions.
