Nobody can say for sure why Alzheimer’s Disease occurs. However, many experts believe both diet and nutrition are the very factors, affecting disease management. Is it possible to prevent it? International studies designed to estimate how measures can slow down or prevent the disease onset often give conflicting results. Nowadays, there is no solid evidence of the possible agents’ preventive action. However, epidemiological studies suggest some corrective factors — diet, cardiovascular risk, medication, mental activity, and others are associated with the likelihood of the disease developing. In this list, the diet is not in the last place! It is easy to assume that if a person eats properly, leading a healthy lifestyle, then the risk of developing dementia decreases. Lack of smoking, regular meals, and healthy foods always help us feel healthier and more cheerful. It is equally important to drink alcohol in moderation, maintain a healthy weight and monitor your blood pressure.
The interconnection between diet and dementia
Diets, which will be discussed below, is a nutrition plan that, according to science, can significantly reduce the likelihood of disease development. According to the results of one of the studies, those who began to strictly adhere to the diet, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease decreased by 53 percent! There are 3 main types of diets that have been created by the best researchers. Experts have conducted a series of studies to check how diets affect the course and likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease developing. The DASH (Nutritional Approach to the hypertension treatment) diet, the main task of which is to lower the blood pressure and the diet of the Mediterranean type are the main ones. After the experts combined both diets, having isolated some products from them (for example, most varieties of cheese, leaving only low-calorie mozzarella), a third, modern diet MIND (Mediterranean — DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) has appeared.
DASH Diet
This is an effective nutrition method for blood pressure reducing in people suffering from hypertension. Diet limits sweets, fats and salt. The menu of this diet includes more fruits, vegetables, cereals, nuts and legumes, as well as dairy products with low or no fat. The nutritional program for hypertension is similar to vegetarianism, but still retains a small amount of meat in the diet.
Mediterranean diet
This is a nutrition plan recommended by both health professionals and private service providers. It contains many fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish and olive oil. The Mediterranean diet reduces cardiovascular diseases, certain types of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s risk. It also helps to lose weight.
MIND Diet
It is a measure of Alzheimer’s disease prevention. Its name is an English abbreviation of Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. This diet was developed by scientists at the Medical Center of Rush University (USA). The purpose of its creation is to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. It is not that difficult to follow this diet. It includes 15 different components and 10 product groups. You can find nuts, vegetables, cereals, wine and natural oils contained in fish and white meat among them.
A group of more than 900 people, aged from 58 to 98 years old, was surveyed, who spoke about their diet and were subjected to a specific neurological study. Those people who followed a diet called the MIND scientists had a much higher level of cognitive function, which means a better memory. The Mind diet essence was that the selected 10 foods needed to be entered into your diet, and 5 foods which should be avoided. The menu is based on Mediterranean diets, because people live longer there, maintaining better physical and mental health.
The results of the study showed people had a less low risk of degenerative processes in the cells as a result of consuming such food. As you know, these processes cause Alzheimer’s disease development. Moreover, it was found that the earlier a person began to adhere to this diet, the more health benefits it brought him.
On the other hand, there is no direct evidence people will not suffer from the disease of dementia due to this diet. It is likely there are many other different reasons for this.
Memory loss protection
Of course, we want your loved one would eat as good as possible. When taking care of the patient with dementia nutrition, it is important to consider the following: dementia is not the best time to follow a strict diet. The main thing in this period — do not give a person to lose weight. Even if it seems he eats a lot, it does not mean it should be strongly limited. It is better to divide food ingestion into 6-8 meals, but not to reduce its total amount. It is important the diet to include foods improving memory.
Products should include leafy green vegetables, berries and other dark-skinned fruits, cold, fresh virgin coconut oil, chocolate, coffee, extra virgin olive oil, cold water, and salmon.
Your loved one should also be interested in proper nutrition. It is important to support him in these stages. If a caretaker is caring for him — be careful he is aware of the patient’s diet. The body must be provided with the right and proper amount of nutrients. You just need to feed a relative properly. Believe it! It is not so difficult!
The first sign of Alzheimer’s disease can be moderate forgetfulness, which can be confused with age-related changes in memory. Memory impairment is a pathological condition in which a person is not able to fully accumulate, save and use information obtained in the process of the environment perception. This is a common disorder, familiar to many people with dementia, significantly reducing the quality of life. The treatment of this disease largely depends on nutrition, so we will analyze what you should use so that your memory does not let you down. However, to prevent the Alzheimer’s disease development, you should exclude the following products from your menu:
- Processed cheeses
- Processed meats, especially smoked meats, such as bacon
- White carbohydrates such as cakes, pasta, white sugar, white bread and white rice
- Beer
- Microwave Popcorn
Dementia sufferers often eat less than healthy people, having difficulty when eating. They are often hard to chew, swallow or digest food. Sometimes there is another problem — patients lose interest in food for various reasons. For example, a disease affects both taste and smell. Another common problem is that patients forget they did not eat or, on the contrary, eat several times a day, because they do not remember they were already sitting at the table.
