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Someone around the world is diagnosed with dementia every three seconds. That’s according to the world’s largest global dementia prevention research study. The investigation also found out that although billions of dollars have been spent to help in the research process to find new drugs to gtreat the condition, the rate of how many people develop dementia around the world is still increasing at a some what uncontrollable rate. There has been a lot of research conducted in to the damaging build up of plaque in the brain. This is thought to be the main reason why the disease causes so much damage through out the body. The data collected is not eye catching and include many side effects of the condition such as bleeding in to the brain.

Dementia is a term for diseases that affect memory, thinking, and behaviour. Alzheimer’s is the most common type, but there are others, including vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia.

New hopes are being pinned on trials which are going through at the moment on different kinds of versatile techniques for treating dementia. An international Alzheimers Prevention Expert Team has calculated that over 80% of those diagnosed with the condition could be prevented from developing and showing any signs of the disease. A Dutch study which was conducted last year has illustrated that having good levels of vitamin D, omega-3, found in oily fish, and B vitamins cut dementia risk to less than a quarter. Taking part in a regular exercise routine, staying mentally active and cutting down on sugar can also have a highly beneficaial effect to prevent people from developing the condition.

A new project is being lauched to help discover the hardest hitting combination of treatments to prevent the number of cases from ballooning any further. They are now inviting people around the world to complete a free, online diet and lifestyle questionnaire and a cognitive function test.

The project, headed by Oxford University-trained neuroscientist Dr Tommy Wood, Associate Professor at the University of Washington, aims to test over 20 million people – a million each from the UK, Germany and Poland, a similar number from the US, Canada, Brazil, Japan, and 10 million in China, which has the world’s highest prevalence of dementia.

In China the project is supported by the China National Health Association and the former Minister of Health, Gao Qiang. “We must popularise prevention,” he says. “With 300 million people over 60, this has to be our focus. Foodforthebrain’s initiative is the way forward. It is something everyone can do, right now for themselves.”

China’s leading prevention expert Professor Jin-Tai Yu, from Fudan University in Shanghai adds: “It may be possible to prevent up to 80% of dementia cases if all known risk factors are targeted.’ The ones he considers especially effective are B vitamins which reduce levels of a toxic amino acid found in the brain called homocysteine. High levels can damage both brain cells and blood vessels.

His research, together with results from Oxford University’s leading prevention expert Professor David Smith, who has been analysing data from the UK Bio Bank, has already shown that up to 73% of dementia cases can be prevented even without factoring in the B vitamin and omega-3 benefits.

“Our research at Oxford found almost nine times less shrinkage in the Alzheimer’s associated areas of the brain in those taking B vitamin supplements who had raised homocysteine, which is common among over 60+ year olds, and in early signs of dementia.” says Professor Smith.

In the UK a group of GPs, part of the Public Health Collaboration, have joined the task force to help drive the project to hundreds of thousands of patients across the UK. Former GP and Chair of the Public Health Collaboration, Dr David Jehring, says “personalised digital health education such as this is the way forward. No drug treatment has yet produced a clinically meaningful effect, with awful adverse effects. We have to face the reality that dementia can only be prevented by tackling that ‘perfect storm’ of 21st century diet and lifestyle that create cognitive decline in the first place. It is not likely to be solvable by medication.”

In the US Dr Mark Hyman, who is part of foodforthebrain’s group of prevention experts, is supporting Robert F Kennedy Jr, the newly appointed Secretary of Health, in the campaign to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ with prevention at its core. “Our healthcare system is failing because it treats symptoms rather than addressing the root causes of disease. I fully support Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s commitment to investigating the underlying drivers of chronic illness and ensuring that prevention, not just treatment, is at the core of our national health strategy. The science is clear – food is the most powerful medicine we have to prevent, reverse, and even treat conditions like dementia, autoimmune diseases, and metabolic disorders. If we truly want to make America healthy again, we must shift our focus from managing disease to creating health.” says Dr Hyman.

The free online test, which is available in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Portugese, French, German and Polish, also invites participants to submit a pinprick of blood via a home test kit, to measure vitamin D, omega-3, B vitamin, antioxidant and blood sugar status.