Moderate drinking and exercise seem to reduce the deterioration that occurs with aging, the study's lead author, Dr. Gerald van Belle of the University of Washington in Seattle, told Reuters Health.

"It doesn't stop it," he said in an interview, "but it slows it down."

In 1994, van Belle and his colleagues started tracking about 2,500 people ages 65 and older who were enrolled in a Seattle-area health maintenance organization. At the start of the study, none of the participants had been diagnosed with dementia. Participants were interviewed at the start of the study and then every 2 years thereafter. The findings appear in the September issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

At the start of the study, people with certain conditions--including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and osteoporosis--had more trouble with walking and other physical activities, and were less able to perform their daily activities. In contrast, people who exercised at least three times a week or who drank moderately--defined as five or more drinks a year without any alcohol problems--had fewer difficulties with their daily activities and physical functioning.

These findings were not surprising, according to van Belle, but as time passed, he and his colleagues noticed an interesting trend. People who started the study with certain medical conditions tended to decline more rapidly than healthier people, he said.

According to the Seattle researcher, their abilities started out lower and were "going down faster." But he added that "exercise seemed to be protective." People who exercised regularly were not able to stop the aging process, but they did seem to slow it a little. The change in their abilities over time "was actually less" than in people who did not exercise as much, he said.

Similarly, moderate drinking seemed to slow age-related deterioration, he said. Though many other studies have linked exercise and moderate drinking to good health, van Belle cautioned that the study does not prove that these activities were the reason people maintained their abilities longer. It is possible, he said, that other characteristics of people who drink moderately or exercise contribute to the differences.

Van Belle and his colleagues are continuing to follow the original participants who are still alive, and they hope to recruit a "second wave" of another 1,000 seniors. As the trial continues, they also plan to track the effect of mild cognitive impairment, which is less severe than dementia but still causes problems with memory and other mental abilities, on functional abilities. In addition, the researchers plan to use the HMO's pharmacy database to track the effects of medications on these abilities.

(China Daily October 18, 2002)