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Health experts have warned that rising levels of obesity in middle age – a condition recently linked to increased risks of Alzheimer’s disease in later life – could result in a major increase in numbers of dementia sufferers by 2050.

The conclusions of the study – carried out by Tim Marsh and Laura Webber of UK Health Reform – were presented at the recent European Congress on Obesity, which took place in Liverpool recently.

Researchers in the US have found that families with exceptional longevity also appear to have later onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

While the same percentage of people in families surviving to the age of 90 and beyond is prey to Alzheimer’s disease as others, the progressive brain disorder tends to develop later in life, researchers say.

The research team looked at more than 1,800 participants (1,510 family members and 360 spouses as ‘controls’) in the US-Danish Long Life Family Study, which evaluated genetics and non-genetic factors associated with extreme longevity.

A recent announcement by a UK police force that it plans to fit dementia patients with GPS tracking devices has received a mixed response from campaigners.