CHICAGO, July 7 (UPI) -- The same lifestyle changes that cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes may also cut the risk of Alzheimer's disease, USA Today reported Wednesday.
An unhealthy lifestyle may lead to the double whammy of stroke and Alzheimer's, says Bill Thies, a spokesman for the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago.
With either mechanism, the result will be memory loss and confusion.
"Do enough damage to the brain and eventually there will be a price to pay," says Steve Roach, a neurologist at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Though there's no proof an unhealthy lifestyle leads to Alzheimer's, Thies says that habits that keep the body and heart healthy might pay off years later in reduced risk for the disease.
"What you do today does matter 20 years from now."
