Coffee drinkers will be clinking mugs in a toast to new research suggesting that just two strong cups of the black stuff a day can reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease. Dr Gary Arendash of the University of Florida showed that coffee not only helped to reverse symptoms in mice but also staved off production in the brain of abnormal protein plaques, which are the hallmark of Alzheimer's.

    In the UK the Alzheimer's Society is anxious not to suggest that everyone develop a caffeine habit but says that if further research confirms its benefits, coffee could become part of a lifestyle prevention plan for the disease.

    So what else could be in the armoury? Researchers at Columbia University in New York recently found that a Mediterranean-style diet high in fish oil and vegetables prevented people with mild memory loss from getting full-blown dementia, and also seemed to prevent memory decline in the general population. Blueberries, kale and broccoli seem particularly .

    Smoking is repeatedly shown to dull the brain's efficiency, so that's another reason to quit, but some studies suggest that moderate alcohol intake （one or two drinks a day） can be protective.

    Staying fit seems to help, too. A study of more than 2,200 Japanese-American men between the ages of 71 and 93 found that those who were sedentary or walked under a quarter of a mile per day were nearly twice as likely to develop dementia as those who covered two miles or more a day. And a report in the New England Journal of Medicine found that regular dancing of any sort reduced the risk of the disease.

    Being bilingual or learning languages preserves brain function and lowers the risk of dementia, and the "use it or lose it" theory also has proven benefits. One study of 400 pensioners in New York showed their risk of neural decline was halved through activities such as sudoku, crosswords, visiting museums and playing a musical instrument.

    It's better still if you can complete those puzzles with a spouse. Being married means you are at half the risk of getting dementia compared with singletons, Swedish researchers reported this month. But maintaining that marital status quo is essential: the same study found that divorce in mid-life will increase the risk three-fold.

    喝咖啡的人將會彼此碰杯來慶祝一項新的研究，此研究表明每天喝兩杯濃咖啡能扭轉老年癡呆癥對身體的多種影響。佛羅里達大學的Gary Arendash 博士的表示，喝咖啡不僅有助于扭轉老鼠的癥狀，還可以阻止大腦中產(chǎn)生異常蛋白質斑塊，這些斑塊是老年癡呆癥的重要特征。

    英國老年癡呆癥協(xié)會并不急于建議每個人都養(yǎng)成喝咖啡的習慣，但表示如果進一步研究證實了其好處，喝咖啡可能成為預防老年癡呆癥生活方式的一部分。

    那么這種生活方式中還包含什么呢？ 最近，紐約哥倫比亞大學的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，一種富含魚油和蔬菜的地中海式飲食可以防止輕度記憶力喪失的人發(fā)展成為完全型老年癡呆癥 ,而且似乎可以防止一般人的記憶力衰退。藍莓，羽衣甘藍和花椰菜似乎特別有幫助。

    吸煙一再被表明會降低大腦的工作效率，這也是戒煙的另一個原因，但有些研究表明，適度飲酒（每天一杯或兩杯）可以起到預防作用。

    健身似乎也有幫助。 一項針對2200多個年齡在71歲到93歲之間的日裔美國人的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些久坐或每天走路不足0.25英里的人得老年癡呆癥的幾率是每天走兩英里甚至更多的人的兩倍。新英格蘭醫(yī)學雜志中的一份報告發(fā)現(xiàn)，經(jīng)常跳舞（可以是任何類型的舞蹈）可以降低得老年癡呆癥的風險。

    使用雙語或學習語言可以保持大腦功能，降低癡呆癥的風險，同時"不用則廢"理論也已經(jīng)證明了其好處。 一項對紐約400名養(yǎng)老金領取者的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，通過諸如數(shù)獨（一種源自18世紀末的瑞士數(shù)學家歐拉所創(chuàng)造的拉丁方陣游戲）,填字游戲，參觀博物館和彈奏樂器等活動可以使神經(jīng)衰退的風險降低一半。

    如果能與配偶一同完成這些智力游戲會更好。結婚意味著你得老年癡呆癥的風險比單身的人要低一半，瑞典研究人員在本月的報告中稱。 但是，維持這樣的婚姻現(xiàn)狀是至關重要的：同樣的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果中年離婚得這種病的風險會增加3倍。