Nutrition and Dementia
Balanced Diet is the key to Dementia Prevention
Nutrition and Dementia: The Lesser-Known Link Between Dementia and Nutrition
While most people know that nutrition is important, we often underestimate its true effect on brain health. Studies have shown that some specific food choices can reduce your risk of dementia by OVER 50% in a few years!
High quality studies on nutrition in general are hard to come by. Most companies are not able to profit tremendously off healthy food choices. Despite this, we still have several really well-done studies that show certain dietary patterns can lead to remarkable reductions in dementia risk.
The two best studied diets in this regard are the Mediterranean style diet and the MIND diet. The MIND diet is a blend of a Mediterranean style diet and a diet studied initially for its benefits in reducing high blood pressure. Both of these diets and their role in dementia prevention are discussed below.
If we take a moment to think about it – everything in our body is created based on the building blocks we give it. If we feed our bodies healthy food, full of nutrients and vitamins, our body will use these resources to do amazing things. If we choose to avoid all nutrients and eat low quality foods our bodies will build and develop accordingly.
There are many other details that matter. Certain vitamins and supplements for dementia may have some benefit for our brain’s development and stability. The B-class of vitamins have a strong association with brain health. Vitamin D and Omega fatty acids play an important role in brain health. And many more. Let us help simplify this for you and break it down systematically step-by-step.
And of course there are many things we ingest that can harm our brains too! Many common foods and drinks have strong evidence of harm. Some even have proven negative effects directly on our brain cells!
We have already done the heavy lifting and research and base our suggestions on only the highest quality evidence available. We don’t make supplements and sell you our products to profit off things that are not scientifically proven. Our focus is on your well-being and health. Let us help guide you on this path to brain optimization and brain health.
Let’s Prevent, Preserve, and Prosper together! Sign up for our free newsletter below to get started.
Reversing Dementia with Diet: Symptoms to Look out for!
People with dementia often have cognitive challenges that can affect their outlook on life and their relationships with others. Nourishing your body with food that helps improve memory and following a dementia suitable diet can have a significant positive impact. Unfortunately many people with dementia can tend to develop malnutrition if not given appropriate food choices and options. It is important to know that an improper diet is furthermore hazardous for a person suffering from dementia and will cause the disease to worsen with time.
There are many changes in diet that can alert an individual that they may have some possible underlying cognitive changes or impairment. Some of these symptoms can include:
- Sudden loss of appetite
- Feeling too full quickly
- Not able to satisfy hunger
- Having unhealthy food cravings
- Feeling uneasy and bloated often
- Finding it difficult to swallow or chew food
- Suddenly feeling dry tongue or mouth
- Having a sense of a swollen tongue
- Losing a significant amount of weight
- Experiencing tastelessness
- Craving strange flavour combinations
Many of these symptoms are very nonspecific and can occur for many reasons. If you or someone you know are experience these symptoms, it can be very helpful to get individualized nutritional guidance from your doctor or a dietitian.
Link Between Dementia and Nutrition
One’s ability to make a difference in dementia via nutrition works much more effectively if one is aware of how nutrition and dementia have an impact on one other. Dementia and nutrition share a strong connection as improper nutrition can lead to dementia, as well as proper nutrition can slow down the progress of the disease or altogether prevent it! Here are some findings to help create guidelines on healthy food habits in older adults.
- The elderly are at a greater risk of developing dementia for many reasons including reduced nutrition in older age. This is even more common in low to moderate-income countries. Older people are less likely to eat nutritious foods as compared to their diet in adulthood. This can lead to weakness, skin frailty, loss of nutrients from the body and poor body repair.
- Weight loss remains a leading side-effect of dementia with weight dropping at a faster pace as the disease progresses. This is especially detrimental if a person is already consuming a low-calorie diet.
- Being obese in mid-life is one of the risk factors that increases likelihood for dementia in older age. People who are obese are more susceptible to issues like hypertension and high blood glucose and thus can develop vascular dementia or other types of dementia later in life.
- Lack of nutrients, vitamins and minerals in one’s diet can affect the brain’s cognitive ability. A diet lacking in these essentials for a prolonged period leads to a gradual decline in cognitive functions. Therefore, poor lifestyles and dietary habits early on lead to dementia in older age.
- As dementia begins to progress and take over the body more, sufferers experience issues like reduced appetite, abnormal eating behaviour and digestive issues. All these disruptive eating problems are linked to dementia.
Foods to Prevent Dementia: Adjust your Lifestyle to Fight Dementia
Before making any shifts to your dietary routine as a person at risk for cognitive impairment, it is important to count on reliable advice first. This way you will get recommendations based on your personalized nutrition needs.
The two best-studied diets in this regard are the Mediterranean-style and MIND diets. The MIND diet is a blend of a Mediterranean-style diet, and a diet studied initially for its benefits in reducing high blood pressure.
| Mediterranean Diet | Fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, shellfish, fish, and olive oils—as well as small portions of red meat, eggs, and sweets—are all highlighted in the Mediterranean diet. Mediterranean diet offers a rich blend of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients usually obtained through supplements. As older people often have weaker systems to digest or intake several supplements, dietary changes deliver the highest level of benefit. Due to this balanced diet, a person adhering to the Mediterranean diet is less likely to develop dementia as their cognitive abilities will experience a slow decline or none. |
| MIND Diet | Dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) and the Mediterranean diet are combined to create the MIND (Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet. Reducing and managing high blood pressure has been linked to a lower risk of dementia, according to several studies. The MIND diet shares many characteristics with the Mediterranean diet, such as an emphasis on vegetables, particularly leafy greens; a preference for berries over other fruits; healthy grains; beans; nuts; one or more weekly portions of fish; and olive oil. Additionally, it restricts portions of cheese, fast food, fried or red meat, desserts, and butter or margarine. |
| Liquid Intake | Another important aspect of a dementia-suitable diet is to have a high liquid intake. Since our brain constitutes 73% water, a liquid-rich diet helps retain the electrolyte balance of the brain and fights off common dementia symptoms like lightheadedness, fatigue and dizziness. Staying hydrated is the key to recovering from dementia and gaining healthier brain activity. |
While most people know that nutrition is important, we often significant underestimate it’s true effect on brain health. Studies have shown that some specific food choices can reduce your risk of dementia by OVER 50% in a few years!
High quality studies on nutrition in general are hard to come by. Most companies are not able to profit tremendously off healthy food choices. Despite this, we still have several really well-done studies that show certain dietary patterns can lead to remarkable reductions in dementia risk.
The two best studied diets in this regard are the Mediterranean style diet and the MIND diet. The MIND diet is a blend of a Mediterranean style diet and a diet studied initially for its benefits in reducing high blood pressure.
If we take a moment to think about it – everything in our body is created based on the building blocks we give it. If we feed our bodies healthy food, full of nutrients and vitamins, our body will use these resources to do amazing things. If we choose to avoid all nutrients and eat low quality foods our bodies will build and develop accordingly.
There are many other details that matter. Certain vitamins and supplements may have some benefit for our brain’s development and stability. The B-class of vitamins have a strong association with brain health. Vitamin D and Omega fatty acids play an important role in brain health. And many more. Let us help simplify this for you and break it down systematically step-by-step.
And of course there are many things we ingest that can harm our brains too! Many common foods and drinks have strong evidence of harm. Some even have proven negative effects directly on our brain cells!
We have already done the heavy lifting and research and base our suggestions on only the highest quality evidence available. We don’t make supplements and sell you our products to profit off things that are not scientifically proven. Our focus is on your well-being and health. Let us help guide you on this path to brain optimization and brain health.
Let’s Prevent, Preserve, and Prosper together! Sign up for our free newsletter below to get started.
