The battle against dementia is being won thanks to health-conscious baby boomers, Cambridge University researchers in the UK say. The "dementia epidemic" was predicted in the 1990s has failed to materialise because the middle-aged are now living far healthier lives than previous generations.It was predicted that about 884000 people would have dementia by 2011 but the actual figure was closer to 670000.Despite predictions that 8.3% of over-65s would develop dementia, only 6.5% did, much the same as in the 1990s.This was driven by people exercising more, giving up smoking and eating healthily, the researchers said.The scientists at Cambridge University, who reviewed five big epidemiological studies, called for dementia spending to be "rebalanced" towards encouraging lifestyle changes instead of being spent on finding new drugs to treat the disease.Charities welcomed the research, saying it proved that simple changes could prevent the condition. ..