Researchers discover the four crucial factors that can protect you from developing dementia

Eating two and a half chicken breasts a day from mid-life onwards could dramatically reduce your risk of developing the memory robbing disease dementia, experts have urged.

Getting enough protein is among the ‘four pillars’ of prevention identified by researchers in a new report, which also includes exercise, treating long term health conditions and maintaining strong social links with friends and family. 

These factors are crucial because they help an older person avoid frailty, which Australian research recently found could predict if you’ll get dementia almost a decade before a diagnosis.

Frailty is a medical term for people who, for mostly age-related reasons, struggle to bounce back from common health troubles, like bad colds or an injury. 

This means even a relatively minor fall or infection can become potentially serious, with frail adults at increased risk of becoming disabled, or needing a hospital admission or long term care.

In a recent study, led by experts from The University of Queensland, scientists found those with a dementia diagnosis showed signs of frailty four to nine years before their cognitive symptoms began to appear.

Analysing data from four studies of 30,000 Brits and Americans, the authors found frailty increased the risk of subsequent dementia diagnosis by between 18 and 73 per cent. 

One of the authors of the study, David Ward a health researcher from Queensland, told Medscape: ‘We found that with every four to five additional health problems, there is on average a 40 per cent higher risk of developing dementia.’

But the researchers, who published their findings in the journal JAMA Neurology, described this as potentially good news.

This is because frailty can be prevented or delayed which, if the link between the condition and dementia is true, means people could also reduce their risk of dementia. 

Mr Ward suggested adhering to what he called ‘four pillars of frailty prevention and management’.

The first was a healthy diet packed with muscle-building protein.

NHS advice states older Brits should consider eating between 1 to 1.5g of protein per kilogram of their body weight per day, in part, to combat the effects of ageing on the muscles. 

Examples of good protein sources are beans, pulses, fish, eggs and lean cuts of meat, the health service advises.

The second pillar is to keep exercising.

Brits over 65 are told by the NHS to do 150 minutes of moderate activity, like walking or bike riding, or alternatively 75 minutes of vigorous like running or swimming, each week.

This is in addition to doing muscle strengthening activities, like lifting weights or yoga, twice a week.

The third pillar involves ensuring chronic health conditions, which include long-running chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, being adequately treated with medications. 

The final pillar is maintaining social links. Such links could be with friends, family, or the wider community.

Social links not only help boost mental health and well-being they can also help with keeping active, for instance being a member of a walking or gardening club.

While the new study isn’t the first to link frailty and dementia, experts caveat that the data doesn’t mean frailty causes the disorder.

Instead, it could be a biological warning sign of a person at risk.

One of the key limitations of the study was that the authors are unable to account for some of the known risk factors of dementia, such as genetic links.

The NHS has long advised people to eat healthily and watch their weight to reduce their risk of getting dementia with high blood pressure problems from poor diet and obesity linked to dementia. 

People are also advised to avoid drinking and smoking for similar reasons.