Scientists have found in their new study how patients at a high risk of Alzheimer’s can slow or even prevent the mental illness by opting for healthy lifestyles.

The study published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy revealed that around 71% of patients, who consumed healthy food, did regular exercise, and engaged in stress management programmes showed stability in their cognitive functions.

On the other hand, 68% of patients in a control group without practicing these things presented dire symptoms.

The experts also revealed that the more patients opted for healthy lifestyles, and became consistent, they benefitted from their brain functions.

A lead researcher Dr Dean Ornish, founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute, was quoted by the Medical Xpress as saying: “I’m cautiously optimistic and very encouraged by these findings, which may empower many people with new hope and new choices.”

“We do not yet have a cure for Alzheimer’s, but as the scientific community continues to pursue all avenues to identify potential treatments, we are now able to offer an improved quality of life to many people suffering from this terrible disease,” Ornish added.

“There’s a desperate need for Alzheimer’s treatments,” said researcher Rudolph Tanzi, director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital, one of the study’s clinical sites.

“Biopharma companies have invested billions of dollars in the effort to find medications to treat the disease, but only two Alzheimer’s drugs have been approved in the past 20 years…,” Tanzi said.

“In contrast, the intensive lifestyle changes implemented in this study have been shown here to improve cognition and function, at a fraction of the cost—and the only side effects are positive ones,” he added.