Obesity could leave 2.5m with dementia

Around 700,000 already have Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia and the number is predicted to reach 1.5million in the next 40 years as the population ages.

But rising levels of obesity, which increases the chance of developing dementia, threaten to add an extra million to the figure.

Professor Clive Ballard, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "Obesity is a huge risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.

People who are overweight at 60 are more than twice as likely to get dementia by 75. That is a big, big risk. If we are not careful, it won't be 1.5 million with dementia, it might be two or 2.5 million people."

Professor Ballard, an expert in agerelated diseases, said the current estimate of 1.5 million sufferers by 2051 only took into account the ageing of the population.

He added: "The risk of dementia increases exponentially with age. Dementia affects one in five people over 80 and one in three in their mid-90s.

"If you then have lifestyle factors that increase the risk, that will further increase the numbers. If obesity becomes more of a concern, it could have a substantial impact.

"You are starting to get to the sort of level where even the best planning in the world is gong to find it hard to deal with the issues."

The warning comes as the country faces soaring rates of obesity.

A growing reliance on fast food and time- saving technology has led to Britain developing the worst weight problem in Europe, with almost a quarter of adults classed as obese.

Children fare little better, with levels of obesity having doubled among six-year-olds and trebled among 15-year-olds in the past ten years.

The obese are thought to be at greater risk of dementia as they tend to have higher blood pressure and cholesterol. Both of these can increase the chances of dementia by interrupting the blood supply to the brain.

Experts have warned that unless the Government acts now, an entire generation faces old age blighted by heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other conditions brought on by obesity such as dementia.

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said it was now unarguable that blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other factors associated with an increased risk of heart disease played an important role in the onset of dementia.

Calling for the condition to be given greater priority, he said: "700,00 people in the UK have a form of dementia. Behind every one of those 700,000 there is a very, very sad story.

"We are talking about an illness that is not just a loss of memory, it affects people's ability to recognise the people they are married to, their own children.

"It wrecks a person's ability to function and the distress their families and loved ones experience from seeing someone they love disappear in front of them is absolutely massive."