Religious or spiritual faith can help slow the effects of Alzheimer's disease, Italian researchers believe, offering potential hope to millions of sufferers worldwide. Padua University researchers split 64 Alzheimer's patients into two groups, one showing "a low level" of religious belief and the other with "a moderate to high" level.

They followed them for a year and tested how much their abilities declined, both in mundane acts such as getting dressed and feeding themselves and harder tasks such as having phone conversations. The patients with "low spirituality" showed a 10% higher loss in cognitive faculties, said the team led by Professor Enzo Manzato, whose study has been published in the journal Current Alzheimer Research.

It is well-known that sensory stimoli from a normal social life slow cognitive deterioration, but in our study it appears to be interior spirituality which is able to slow cognitive loss," '' Manzato explained. However, the belief had to be real and not just "going through the motions," he stressed. "It's not a question of following rites which require certain social behaviour but a full-blown capacity to believe in a spiritual entity," he said. Drugs and therapy can help the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases but there is no cure.