Food and health
Can the proper diet prevent Alzheimer's?
by Maggie Kraft
The news is full of information about how various diets and foods can
promote health or disease. While many researchers around the world are
working to find a cure for Alzheimer's, many others are looking at whether
our lifestyles and diets play a role in preventing or causing Alzheimer's as
well as a host of other diseases.
Here are just a few examples of findings from various studies that have
been conducted during the last few years:
• Extracts identified in five fruits and vegetables were found to
contain substances that act in the same way as drugs used to treat
Alzheimer's.
• Antioxidants and other natural chemicals in fruit juices may shield
the brain from dementia.
• A compound in wine reduces levels of Alzheimer's disease-causing
peptides.
• Daily intake of a cholesterol-reducing drug may stabilize memory and
thinking abilities in people with mild to moderate Alzheimer's.
• High cholesterol levels can be linked with increasing levels of a
protein that is a central feature of Alzheimer's.
• Adults taking the B vitamin folic acid improved their performance on
tests of memory, reaction time and thinking speed.
• Genistein from soybeans inhibits the formation of fibril plaque
deposits, which cause Alzheimer's.
• Linoleic acid, a lipid found in plants such as corn, sunflowers and
safflower, appears to help prevent Alzheimer's disease in many people.
However, in those with a genetic defect that makes them more prone to the
disease, it could prove harmful.
• A high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet improves Alzheimer's disease in rats by
reducing a brain protein that is an indicator of Alzheimer's.
Although research about Alzheimer's and diet is still emerging, we do know
that diet can play an important role in preventing diseases such as high
blood pressure and diabetes that are also risk factors for dementia. Studies
show that there are associations among Alzheimer's disease, high blood
pressure that begins in midlife, and other risk factors of stroke, which can
damage blood vessels in the brain and reduce the brain's oxygen supply. This
damage may disrupt nerve cell circuits that are thought to be important in
decision-making, memory and verbal skills. Large-scale studies suggest that
diabetes is associated with several types of dementia, including Alzheimer's
and vascular dementia (a type of dementia associated with strokes).
While there is no one thing any of us can do to prevent a disease as
complex as Alzheimer's, the best course of action, according to the research
so far, seems to be the following:
• Reduce cholesterol and homocysteine levels.
• Reduce high blood pressure.
• Control diabetes.
• Exercise regularly.
• Engage in intellectually stimulating activities.
• Stay socially engaged.
Since all these things are good ideas anyway, regardless of what disease
we are trying to avoid, it is probably wise to fit these strategies into our
daily activities.
Because Alzheimer's is so devastating, it is easy to be tempted by untried,
unproven and unscientific cures, supplements or prevention strategies.
Sadly, the adage, "If it seems too good to be true, it probably is," applies
here too. Always check with your doctor before trying anything that promises
to prevent Alzheimer's. You might be wasting your money on unsafe products
that might even interfere with other medical treatments that have been
prescribed.
There are no definitive answers at this point. If it is true that we
are what we eat, then what we are should be moderation. Still, life is too
short to never eat cake or to pass up the opportunity to have a
heart-to-heart conversation with someone we love because we simply must
exercise. Occasional excess won't blow the whole game for us. To maintain a
healthy body, soul and brain, balance in all things - what we eat, what we
do, how we speak - is probably the best medicine around.
Maggie Kraft is director of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center's Adult Day
Health Services and Alzheimer's Resource Center, www.humsenior.org.
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