Two experts on dementia look at the causes of the disease and discuss ways in which we can protect ourselves against it and cope with the changes that aging brings, under the chairmanship of journalist and broadcaster dame Joan Bakewell.

Dementia affects nearly 35 million worldwide and there are 7.7 million new cases each year. Ageing populations mean dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, has become a growing concern and a huge challenge for both carers and health services.

Margaret Rayman is professor of nutritional medicine at the University of Surrey and advocates a healthy lifestyle as one way to reduce the risk of dementia. In Healthy Eating to Reduce the Risk of Dementia, Rayman and a team of nutritional experts lay down some guidelines and offer 100 delicious recipes. Rayman created the UK’s first university-level degree programme on nutritional medicine. She has been a judge on the BBC Food and Farming Awards for the last four years and gives speeches and lectures across the UK.

Professor Lawrence Whalley is emeritus professor of mental health in the College of Medicine and Life Sciences at the University of Aberdeen and honorary professor of research at the University of the Highlands and Islands. He is an expert on brain aging. In Understanding Brain Aging and Dementia, he outlines the cause of brain aging and explains how you can cope better with it.

The event is chaired by journalist, broadcaster and Labour peer Bakewell, a former Government Voice of Older People, best known as presenter of the long-running discussion series Heart of the Matter.

Sponsored by HSBC. HSBC employees have chosen the Alzheimer’s Society as one of six national charities to be supported by the company in 2016 and 2017.