Index
- What diet to prevent Alzheimer's disease?
- Alzheimer's Disease: Things to Remember
- Definition
- Lesions related to the disease
- Symptoms
- Foods that increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease
- Alzheimer's disease, the components of a preventive diet
- Fish or seafood
- Vegetables
- Fruit
- Nuts and seeds
- Alzheimer's Disease: Things to Remember
What diet to prevent Alzheimer's disease?
Among the pathologies that most affect the elderly, Alzheimer's disease is at the top of the list along with Parkinson's disease. Evolving over several years, this pathology gradually deteriorates the cognitive capacity of the patient as well as his quality of life. Over time, the patient becomes entirely dependent on those close to him or her. The disease can thus affect several lives. In any case, prevention is always possible. In this article, you will find out what diet to adopt to prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's Disease: Things to Remember
Before getting to the heart of the matter, it is important to take stock of the essential elements to be retained in relation to this pathology.
Definition
Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the development of dementia over time. It generally manifests itself through memory problems, language impairment and intellectual functions. This disease generally affects older people.
Lesions related to the disease
At the origin of Alzheimer's disease, there are certain lesions that are specific to it. For example:
- Neuronal loss
- Amyloid plaque formation
- Tau protein aggregation
- Affecting the hippocampus. This is at the origin of the amnesia to which the patient is subject
Symptoms
This section focuses on the clinical signs of Alzheimer's disease. Please note that this condition generally affects women over the age of 80.
- The initial phase: it is characterized by a tendency to forget. This often goes unnoticed, but can disturb the patient and lead to an anxiety attack or depression.
- The second phase: this is characterized by the progressive appearance of memory loss. The person concerned has difficulty remembering important facts that occur during his or her daily life. For example, patients often do not remember the people who visited them.
- The third phase: it is mainly marked by spatial and temporal disorientation. Thus, the patient may get lost in his own neighbourhood and begin to wander around.
From the third phase onwards, the following signs occur and become more pronounced: exaggeration of certain personality traits, language disorders, inability to recognise familiar objects, difficulty in performing certain everyday gestures, mental confusion, hallucinations and loss of bowel and bladder control.
Foods that increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease
Preventing Alzheimer's disease through diet is entirely possible. To do so, it is important to avoid certain foods that may increase the risk of this pathology. This precaution can be taken by everyone.
Then you should know that Alzheimer's disease specialists point the finger at the Western diet. In addition to promoting pathology, this diet is also responsible for various cancers, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The main culprit is excessive meat consumption. Meat, other products of animal origin (except milk), products rich in refined sugar and high-fat dairy products should also be avoided in order to effectively prevent Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease, the components of a preventive diet
As you can see, eating too much meat or the other products mentioned above increases the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. In order to be able to prevent this pathology, it is important to adopt a good diet. So what foods should be included in a diet to prevent Alzheimer's disease?
Fish or seafood
2 to 3 servings of fish or other seafood a week is the key to this type of diet. Indeed, fish is a very important health ally for the brain, especially for memory. If you can, opting for fatty fish (sardine, salmon, trout, herring, anchovies, ...) is the best thing to do. These have higher levels of omega-3. The latter has the effect of allowing the brain to protect itself from dementia thanks to its vascular properties and anti-inflammatory effects.
Vegetables
The diet to be adopted for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease is similar to the Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet is mainly vegetable-based. For a better prevention, green vegetables are the most indicated because they are rich in antioxidants and vitamins. So don't hesitate to eat as much salad, cabbage, broccoli, spinach or chard as you can.
Fruit
A source of vitamins and minerals, fruit is excellent for preventing Alzheimer's disease. However, some are more effective than others in this role. This is the case with red grapes, strawberries and pomegranates. Pomegranate is said to have neuro-protective as well as anti- inflammatory effects. The strawberry, for its part, helps preserve memory.
Nuts and seeds
This type of food is particularly rich in omega-3, vitamins, antioxidants and fibre. To take advantage of all the properties of nuts, hazelnuts, almonds or cashews, it is best to eat them plain (without salt and not roasted).
