David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
What kind of diet can lower our risk for Alzheimer's?
By Dr. Marla Shapiro, CTV Health
April 13, 2010
With our aging population, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease is expected to increase. I recently had a patient in my office with a strong family history of dementia who asked if there was anything she could do with her diet or supplements to decrease the risk of her developing Alzheimer's.
The answer to this question is complicated at best, because the likelihood of one supplement alone or one food group alone as an answer for risk reduction is unlikely. This week, an original study published in the Archives of Neurology looks at food combination and Alzheimer disease risk.
There are studies that look at food as a way of modifying risk for a variety of diseases. The authors of this study followed over 2000 people free of AD in New York and assessed their diets. We eat meals with a lot of different nutrients and it may be that it is the food items taken together that act together to reduce risk. So the question they were asking was: do certain dietary patterns reduce the risk of AD? Are there nutrients in the diet that are important in risk reduction?
The authors were able to identify a dietary pattern that had a significant association with protection against Alzheimer's. Those who ate the identified style of eating had 38% risk reduction in acquiring the disease. The dietary pattern they identified was rich in:
Looking at the foods and nutrients can help to explain possible ways that the risk was seen. For example, vitamin B12 and folate can reduce circulating levels of homocysteine and that might lower the risk. Vitamin E is a known antioxidant and the fatty acids are known to decrease the risk of atherosclerosis, clotting and inflammation. Omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA play a crucial role in heart and brain function and in normal growth and development. PUFA are ?essential? fats that your body needs but can?t produce, so you must get them from food.
It is hard to pick out one supplement that is responsible and likely it is the combination of the complex nutrients in our food that is responsible and interact all together. The consistency of this diet and the pattern of eating is an important way to reduce disease risk.
By Dr. Marla Shapiro, CTV Health
April 13, 2010
With our aging population, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease is expected to increase. I recently had a patient in my office with a strong family history of dementia who asked if there was anything she could do with her diet or supplements to decrease the risk of her developing Alzheimer's.
The answer to this question is complicated at best, because the likelihood of one supplement alone or one food group alone as an answer for risk reduction is unlikely. This week, an original study published in the Archives of Neurology looks at food combination and Alzheimer disease risk.
There are studies that look at food as a way of modifying risk for a variety of diseases. The authors of this study followed over 2000 people free of AD in New York and assessed their diets. We eat meals with a lot of different nutrients and it may be that it is the food items taken together that act together to reduce risk. So the question they were asking was: do certain dietary patterns reduce the risk of AD? Are there nutrients in the diet that are important in risk reduction?
The authors were able to identify a dietary pattern that had a significant association with protection against Alzheimer's. Those who ate the identified style of eating had 38% risk reduction in acquiring the disease. The dietary pattern they identified was rich in:
- Salad dressing (olive oil and balsamic)
- Nuts, such as walnuts and pecans
- Salmon and fish
- Tomatoes
- Chicken
- Cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower,arugula, bok choy, collards, kale, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnip greens, and watercress)
- Dark and green leafy vegetables
- High fat dairy
- Red meat
- Organ meat
- Butter
Looking at the foods and nutrients can help to explain possible ways that the risk was seen. For example, vitamin B12 and folate can reduce circulating levels of homocysteine and that might lower the risk. Vitamin E is a known antioxidant and the fatty acids are known to decrease the risk of atherosclerosis, clotting and inflammation. Omega-6 and omega-3 PUFA play a crucial role in heart and brain function and in normal growth and development. PUFA are ?essential? fats that your body needs but can?t produce, so you must get them from food.
It is hard to pick out one supplement that is responsible and likely it is the combination of the complex nutrients in our food that is responsible and interact all together. The consistency of this diet and the pattern of eating is an important way to reduce disease risk.
