Staying Social May Keep Dementia at Bay

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"Those with daily contact or more had a lower risk of dementia," she said. The contact didn't have to be face-to-face -- e-mail and telephone interaction counted, Crooks added.

It's impossible to say how many friends and family makes up a big enough social circle to be protective, the researcher said. "Two or fewer is probably not a sufficient amount. You could have three really close friends [or family] and be fine," Crooks speculated.

"We can't tell you what the magic number is," she said.

And she emphasized that her team found only an association between social networks and reduced risk of dementia, which doesn't point to a cause-and-effect relationship, necessarily.

"There could be a person with one person [in his or her social network] who is doing perfectly fine," she said.

While more study is needed to zero in on exactly which aspects of social support are linked with a decrease in dementia risk, Crooks said the findings make perfect sense, neurologically speaking. "The more interaction, the more you challenge your brain."

Dr. William Thies, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer's Association, said the finding "fits with a large body of evidence that being isolated is bad for you."

But he added, the finding is merely an association, not cause and effect.

"You don't know whether the bigger network prevents Alzheimer's or [whether] people who don't get Alzheimer's maintain bigger networks," he said.

More information

To learn more about dementia, visit the National Institute on Aging.