Nourish your brain and stave off Alzheimer's

There’s no guarantee. But more and more research shows that some fairly simple steps can truly lower your risk of the deadly dementia.

Also, if Alzheimer’s strikes anyway, people who have followed this advice tend to do better. Their brains withstand the attack longer before symptoms become obvious.

The goal: build up what’s called a “cognitive reserve”.

A healthy brain weighs about 2lb, the size of a cauliflower. Networks of blood vessels keep oxygen flowing to 100 billion brain cells.

Branch-like tentacles extend from the ends of those cells, the brain’s own specialised wiring to communicate.

Under a microscope, they look like bushy hairs. A healthy brain can continue to grow new neurons and rewire and adapt itself throughout old age – and you want your brain to be as bushy as possible.

That growth starts in childhood, when parents read to tots, and depends heavily on getting lots of education. The less-educated have double the risk of getting Alzheimer’s decades later than people with a college education.

If you’re already 40, don’t despair. What’s the advice?

Your brain is like a muscle – use it or lose it. Brain scans show that when people use their brains in unusual ways, more blood flows into different neural regions and new connections form.

A healthy brain isn’t just an intellectual one. Social stimulation is crucial, too. Don’t sit in front of the television.

Stress and anxiety are risk factors. People who have what’s called chronic distress - extreme worriers – are twice as likely to develop some form of dementia.

Getting physical is crucial also. Bad memory is linked to heart disease and diabetes, because clogged arteries slow blood flow in the brain.

Don’t forget diet. The same foods that are heart-healthy are brain-healthy, so avoid artery-clogging saturated fat and try for omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish and nuts.

Taking large amounts of folic acid improved the memory of older adults, Dutch scientists reported yesterday in the first study to show a vitamin pill might slow the mental decline of ageing.

The research adds to mounting evidence that a diet higher in folate, a B vitamin found in grains and certain dark-coloured fruits and vegetables, is important for a variety of diseases.

It’s proven to lower women’s risks of devastating birth defects of the brain and spinal cord, and research suggests it helps ward off heart disease and strokes.

As people age, some decline in brain function is inevitable. The Dutch study tested whether otherwise healthy people could slow that brain drain by taking double the recommended daily US dose of folic acid – the amount in two pounds of strawberries.