Susan, Thanks for your additional insight into how diet and environment can impact the onset of dementia. As you pointed out, staying hydrated matters. At one point my mother became dehydrated and got a kidney infection. The hospitalization that follows led to a noticeable mental decline. I would add to the list the potential of Vitamin D to slow dementia. One study showed that people with low levels of D were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s though no study has shown whether increased levels of D can avoid it.