December 2007 Vol. 26. No. 12

Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.

Senior Friends
HSRC launches community-based initiative to improve Alzheimer’s care
Alzheimer's: Food and the person with dementia
Around the Center: Holiday foods can conflict with medications
Foster Grandparents: Make a difference in the lives of children

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Alzheimer's
Food and the person with dementia
by Maggie Kraft

The brain is where we register pleasure, and what is more pleasurable than good food? The brain is also where dementia lives. Dementia is a group of disorders that gradually destroy brain cells and cause progressive mental decline. Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of irreversible dementia. Brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia are less common, but can be equally devastating.

Not only does the brain register the pleasure we get from food, it also helps us figure out how to recognize food as food, how to eat it and what it tastes like. It helps us to recognize food smells and helps us remember what we like and don’t like. So you can imagine that as the brain starts to malfunction from the disease, things related to eating can often go askew as well.

Too often, caregivers see refusal of food as a sign that “the end is near” or the person with Alzheimer’s is “giving up.” In the early and moderate stages of the disease, refusal of food is usually a sign that they are having trouble understanding the whole eating activity.

They may no longer recognize food as food (agnosia), so are unlikely to want to put it in their mouths. They may have difficulty remembering how to use utensils properly (apraxia); so while they may be hungry, they are unable to get it into their mouths. Sometimes, many different foods at once are too confusing, so they just stop trying to eat them. Sometimes there is too much noise or other distractions for them to focus on eating. Sometimes they can’t see the food because it is on a plate the same color. Sometimes they forget to eat (amnesia) or need more time to eat than they are given.

There can often be physical and medical reasons for failure to eat: fatigue, illness, nausea, dehydration, depression, oral disease, poorly fitting dentures or swallowing problems. All these things make a person less likely to want to eat, but can be addressed so they can continue to enjoy food.

It is critically important that we use whatever tools are available to entice people with Alzheimer’s to continue to enjoy food. This means recognizing the challenges the brain is facing and spending our time compensating for these challenges, because the person with dementia can’t. Give them time to eat, being sure to provide foods that the person enjoys and can handle easily. Model eating by sharing the meal with them. Be present and make the eating activity enjoyable. Keep the environment simple and calm, but not sterile.

In later stages of Alzhei–mer’s, serious problems can occur around eating and can re–quire other choices to be made. For more information on what to do then, contact the Alzheimer’s Resource Center at 444-8254. Until that time comes, let’s get everyone eating.

Maggie Kraft, MSW, is director of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center’s Adult Day Health and Alzheimer’s Resource Center programs.