Writing about “the fight against dementia” (December 16), architect and MP George Pullicino would be excused for being unaware that a very recently-published 30-year prospective study on almost 3,000 people in Wales has found that a 60 per cent reduction in the risk of dementia can be achieved by regular exercise, reducing food intake of animal origin and increasing vegetable and fruit consumption, staying slim, controlling blood pressure, blood sugar and bad blood fats and by not smoking.

Interestingly, regular exercise was found to be the most potent of the dementia risk-reduction lifestyle factors.

These factors are the same as those that are already known to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke and of some cancers.

More general awareness should be raised, emphasising the need for individuals to increasingly take charge of their own health and not to expect the welfare state to automatically struggle to repair their broken bodies after they have ruined them with a cavalier attitude to diet and lifestyle. Neither should they be expecting magic bullets for curing dementia and all cancers anytime soon.