Nine risk factors including obesity, smoking and high blood pressure have been blamed for dementia in one in three cases.
A report last week was the first time scientists have been able to show how much of the disease is preventable. They warned the public should not see dementia as an inevitable part of ageing' but take responsibility for reducing their own risk.
In the journal The Lancet, senior experts recommended a major crackdown on high blood pressure which could help prevent one in 50 dementia cases. Ensuring universal education to age 15 would cut the number of dementia cases by 8 per cent, the report added.
In middle age, treating hearing loss would have the biggest impact, cutting cases by 9 per cent. Stopping smoking in over-65s would stop 5 per cent of cases and treating depression would prevent 4 per cent.
Even a 1 per cent reduction in dementia cases would mean that 8,500 fewer Britons suffer from the disease.
© Daily Mail