In a bid to tackle high rates of dementia in rural areas and explore new dementia prevention strategies, the Dementia Australia Research Foundation has announced funding for 18 projects worth a total of $2.4 million in the 2022 Grants Program.

This funding will support researchers in examining why people living in rural and regional areas are three to five times more likely to develop dementia than those in cities and developing specific dementia prevention strategies for these communities. 

Dr. Ashleigh Smith from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and her team will receive a Mid-Career Research Fellowship worth $365,000 to create tailored dementia prevention strategies for rural and regional communities.

Dr. Smith says that what motivates her is the growing number of Australians struggling with Dementia. 

”We know that by 2050 there will be a million people living with dementia in Australia and as many as 300,000 of those will be living outside of major cities,” she said.

“We also know there are 12 modifiable risk factors for dementia, including smoking, diet, exercise, and social isolation. This Fellowship will enable us to go to regional and rural areas to collect data around these risk factors,” said Dr. Smith.

UniSA’s rural campuses will partner with the communities of Mt Gambier, Whyalla, and Port Lincoln in South Australia to design targeted, culturally and geographically appropriate, and sustainable dementia prevention strategies. 

“My plan is to base our research team in those areas to collect data out in the regions which will not only enable us to collect data at an individual level, but will also enable us to find out more about the rural ecosystem which will guide the design process of our prevention strategies,” explained Dr. Smith.

The team will co-design a bespoke dementia prevention toolkit with people living in rural and regional communities to ensure the toolkit is acceptable and aimed at extending healthy life and delaying dementia onset for those outside major cities.

“It’s our intention to work really closely with people who live in those communities and come up with strategies that are actually going to work for those specific communities,” said Dr. Smith.

Can fasting help?

In another exciting development, Dr. Alby Elias from The University of Melbourne has been granted $75,000 to lead a study examining whether intermittent fasting can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

Intermittent fasting, or time-restricted eating, involves not eating any food for periods of between 12 and 24 hours between meals. It has been shown to have several health benefits, including improved blood vessel health and reduced inflammation. Animal studies have also demonstrated that intermittent fasting was associated with removal of the beta-amyloid protein from the brain, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Intermittent fasting also has a range of benefits for several health conditions, including obesity, arthritis, diabetes and high blood pressure. But so far no human studies have been conducted looking at fasting and Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Elias.

The first step for Dr. Elias and his team is to work with clinicians and people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease to design a trial that is safe and achievable for participants.

They will investigate the feasibility of time-restricted fasting and later measure how intermittent fasting affects memory function, body weight, lipids, blood pressure and biomarkers of dementia in humans.

The Melbourne-based study will last one month and will involve 25 participants undertaking a time-restricted diet.

“If the results are positive, then hopefully we will see the adoption of intermittent fasting into the healthy lifestyle to reduce the risk of dementia,” said Dr Elias.

“The diversity of projects selected shows we have a very exciting future for dementia research,” said the Chair of the Dementia Australia Research Foundation, Professor Graeme Samuel AC.

With almost 50 million people worldwide affected by dementia, research into dementia is now more urgent than ever. 

For support and information, please contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500 or visit dementia.org.au.