According to a seven-year study done in the south of France, eating more fruits and vegetables and being better educated reduces your risk of getting dementia. Trying to keep depression and diabetes away are also promising strategies for preventing Alzheimer's disease and similar illnesses.

Developing dementia sees a rise with increasing age and more and more people are getting dementia as people live longer.

The new study has just helped researchers who have been looking at ways to keep the disease away.

About 1,433 people who were more than 65 years of age were looked by researchers. All these people were asked to give details of their education, diet, caffeine intake, income and use of medicines.

All these people were followed up over seven years. It was observed that for people who were suffering from depression or diabetes were more at a risk of developing dementia. And even people who ate fruit and vegetables less often than twice a day and people who scored low on the reading test were also at risk.

Researchers said that attempts to keep the disease at bay were on.