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Walking Boosts Cognitive Performance and Combined Lifestyle Changes Deliver Fourfold Gains for APOE4 Carriers

Data presented at the Alzheimer’s Association meeting in Toronto include nearly 3,000 adults tracked over a decade, alongside a 2,469-participant global trial testing combined lifestyle programs.

The final preparation of a healthy salad and at the end the woman pours olive oil.
Phyllis Jones and her bestie, Patty Kelly.

Overview

  • A 10-year study of 2,985 older adults found that a 10% increase in self-reported walking was linked to up to a 12% rise in global cognitive scores for male APOE4 carriers and an 8.5% gain for female carriers.
  • Researchers attribute walking’s protective effect to elevated brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which supports brain cell survival, growth and synaptic connections in the hippocampus.
  • An international randomized trial of 2,469 participants from France, Japan and Finland showed that multi-domain interventions—combining physical activity, dietary counseling and cognitive training—provided roughly four times greater cognitive benefits for those with the APOE4 variant.
  • About 15–25% of people carry the APOE4 gene, which can only be identified through genetic testing and is linked to a two- to 12-fold increase in Alzheimer’s risk depending on allele copy and sex.
  • Investigators say these findings underscore the potential to tailor timing and dosage of lifestyle modifications to counter genetic vulnerability and are exploring optimal intervention windows.