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By: George Citroner
Forgetfulness and confusion, once considered normal signs of aging, are now increasingly striking adults at the peak of their careers. Rates of early-onset dementia and Alzheimer’s disease among Americans younger than 65 have inexplicably doubled between 2013 and 2017, according to data from Blue Cross Blue Shield, a health insurance provider.
Now, new research identifies vitamin D deficiency, which affects 35 percent of adults in the United States, among 15 adjustable lifestyle factors that appear to drive up a person’s early dementia risk. While the findings also highlight alcohol abuse and isolation, the surprising link between low vitamin D levels and early cognitive decline suggests a simple daily supplement may help the fight against this baffling rise.
Largest Study of Its Kind
The average age of someone between 30 and 64 years old living with either young-onset dementia or Alzheimer’s is 49, with women being disproportionately affected compared to men, according to the BCBS data.
In a recent large-scale study published in JAMA Neurology, researchers identified 15 lifestyle and health risk factors associated with early-onset dementia. The study analyzed information from over 356,000 people younger than 65 whose data were in the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research initiative in the United Kingdom, between 2006 and 2010.
“This is the largest and most robust study of its kind ever conducted,” David Llewellyn of the University of Exeter said in a press statement. It is also the first to suggest people can take actions to reduce their risk of the condition by targeting an array of different factors, he added.
Risk Factors for Young-Onset Dementia
“Young-onset dementia has a very serious impact, because the people affected usually still have a job, children, and a busy life,” Stevie Hendriks from the Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands and lead author of the study said in the statement. “The cause is often assumed to be genetic, but for many people we don’t actually know exactly what the cause is.”
Major contributing risk factors included alcohol abuse, stroke, and hearing impairment—all previously identified as risks for cognitive decline.
However, the study also identified some additional risk factors associated with early-onset dementia that have not been previously explored in depth, including vitamin D deficiency, high levels of inflammatory C-reactive proteins, specifically in women, orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure that happens when standing after sitting), and social isolation.
Vitamin D Reduced Dementia Risk by 40 Percent
Previous epidemiological studies have also linked vitamin D deficiency with an increased risk of dementia, Claire Sexton, senior director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association, told The Epoch Times.
However, relatively few studies have specifically examined risk factors for young-onset dementia, making Ms. Hendriks and team’s study “a welcome addition to the literature,” Ms. Sexton said.
One relevant study, published in the Alzheimer’s Association’s journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, compared dementia onset between people who took vitamin D supplements versus those who did not. The study included 12,388 Americans without a dementia diagnosis at baseline, with an average age of 71.
The study found that among those who developed dementia within 10 years, about 75 percent were non-supplement takers compared to only 25 percent who took vitamin D supplements. Supplementation provided greater protection for women, though it reduced dementia risk in both sexes.
