FEBRUARY 11 . >>> A "GMA" HEALTH ALERT. A NEW LARGE-SCALE STUDY ABOUT AN OLDER PERSON'S LIFESTYLE AND CHANCES OF GETTING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE. OUR CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT DR. JENNIFER ASHTON IS HERE WITH THE LATEST. GOOD MORNING, DOC. >> GOOD MORNING, MY FRIEND. >> TELL US ABOUT THIS STUDY. >> BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, 60 YEARS OF AGE AND OLDER FOLLOWED THESE PEOPLE FOR TEN YEARS REALLY LOOKING AT WHAT CAN WE DO IF ANYTHING IN TERMS OF OUR BEHAVIOR TO SLOW OUR DECLINING MEMORY THAT IS VERY COMMON WITH AGE. THEY LOOKED AT PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT THAT GENE MUTATION THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND LOOKED AT SIX FACTORS AND FOUND IN PEOPLE ENGAGED IN MORE OF THESE FACTORS, THE MORE THE BETTER KIND OF NOT SURPRISING, THEY HAD A 90% LOWER CHANCE OF GOING ON TO SUFFER COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT THAN THE GROUPS WHO DIDN'T DO THESE THINGS SO, AGAIN, POWERFUL ASSOCIATION BETWEEN OUR BEHAVIOR AND WHAT HAPPENS TO OUR BRAIN. >> THIS IS A TEN-YEAR STUDY. WHAT TYPE OF HEALTHY BEHAVIORS ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? >> SO LET'S GO THROUGH THE SIX AND HAVE TO REMEMBER THIS IS AN ALL OR NONE. PEOPLE WHO DID THESE THINGS NEVER, AVERAGE AMOUNT OF TYPES PER WEEK AND THEN A LOT SO PHYSICAL EXERCISE, NOT SMOKING, ALCOHOL WAS A BIG ONE AND THE PEOPLE WHO DID THE BEST IN THE STUDY NEVER CONSUMED ALCOHOL, DIET WAS ACTUALLY THE BIGGEST FACTOR AND, AGAIN, HEALTHY DIET, LOTS OF VEGETABLES AND LOW SATURATED FAT, COGNITIVE ACTIVITY WHICH WOULD BE SOMETHING LIKE READING OR PLAYING CARDS AND THEN SOCIAL CONTACT. EVEN CHATTING ONLINE, MEETING WITH FRIENDS, PEOPLE WHO ENGAGED IN THOSE BEHAVIORS DID REALLY, REALLY WELL AS WE AGED. >> PERSONALLY I'M PRETTY GOOD ON SOME OF THOSE. ALCOHOL, WHICH IS TIMELY BECAUSE END OF DRY JANUARY WHICH I KNOW THAT YOU DID. SO -- >> I DID A DAMP JANUARY. >> A DAMP JANUARY. YOU DID PRETTY WELL BUT WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BENEFITS OF CUTTING DOWN ON ALCOHOL? >> I HAVE TO EMPHASIZE THIS, IN TERMS OF ALCOHOL REALLY LESS IS BETTER. THAT IS NOT A GRAY ZONE HERE SO WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT ABSTAINING, CUTTING OUT ALCOHOL EVEN LOWERING YOUR RISK, THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS TO OUR HEART HEALTH, TO OUR LIVER FUNCTION, TO OUR QUALITY OF SLEEP, OUR SKIN, MENTAL HEALTH AND OUR MOOD AND, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, OUR BANK ACCOUNT. ALL OF THOSE THINGS GET BETTER IF YOU CUT DOWN ON ALCOHOL. >> WELL, THAT LAST ONE MIGHT BE EN