As we reported recently, scientists at the Buck Institute may have found a way to reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s in patients that are suffering from it — but there may be a few ways you can prevent it from happening at all.

Researchers used a complex 36-point program that involved adjusting diet, changing exercise routines, improving sleep habits and adding pharmaceuticals and vitamins in patients with Alzheimers. They were able to turn back the effects of Alzheimers in the 10 patients in the study, an encouraging sign that could lead to more research.

But you may be able to prevent Alzheimer’s in the first place by following a few simple guidelines to boost your brain health.

1 Cut your consumption of saturated and trans fats

2 Eat lots of veggies, fruits, legumes and whole grains

3 Eat plenty of nuts and seeds

4 Get your daily B12 dose by eating seafood, milk, cheese or eggs

5 Select a multi-vitamin without iron or copper

6 Don’t use cookware, antacids or baking powder that adds to dietary aluminum

7 Include a little bit of aerobic exercise into your daily routine

In the Buck Institute study, all of the patients “had either well-defined mild cognitive impairment (MCI), subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) or had been diagnosed with Azheimer’s disease before beginning the program,” said author Dale Bredesen, MD, a professor at the Buck Institute and professor at the Easton Laboratories for Neurodegenerative Disease Research at UCLA, who said that patients were able to return to work they had to discontinue because of their struggles. “Follow up testing showed some of the patients going from abnormal to normal.”

Bredesen was encouraged by the results, but he said more research will be needed.

“The magnitude of improvement in these ten patients is unprecedented, providing additional objective evidence that this programmatic approach to cognitive decline is highly effective,” Bredesen said. “Even though we see the far-reaching implications of this success, we also realize that this is a very small study that needs to be replicated in larger numbers at various sites.”

Plans for additional studies are ongoing.