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Diet and Alzheimer's Disease
From Medscape General Medicine™
MedGenMed Neurology & Neurosurgery
Diet and Alzheimer's Disease: What the Evidence Shows
Posted 01/15/2004
Martha Clare Morris, ScD
From Medscape General Medicine™
MedGenMed Neurology & Neurosurgery
Diet and Alzheimer's Disease: What the Evidence Shows
Posted 01/15/2004
Martha Clare Morris, ScD
Dietary Fat Composition
Another promising area of study involves the effect of dietary fat composition on the risk of Alzheimer's disease. The composition of fat in the diet is known to affect blood cholesterol levels. In metabolic studies, diets with a high ratio of saturated fat to polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fats resulted in a poor blood cholesterol profile, characterized by high levels of low-density lipoprotein and low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol.[12] Consumption of transunsaturated fat, obtained from partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in commercially baked products, is particularly hypercholesterolemic.[13]
Although the biochemical mechanism is not yet identified, cholesterol appears to be an important component in Alzheimer's disease and is involved in both the generation and deposition of A-beta.[14] One of the more important genetic risk factors for Alzheimer's disease, the apolipoprotein E-e4 allele (APOE-e4), is the principal cholesterol transport in the brain.
Several lines of evidence support the theory that an elevated blood cholesterol level is related to the development of Alzheimer's disease. In experimental models, animals fed high-fat and high-cholesterol diets exhibited impaired learning and memory performance compared with animals on control diets and also demonstrated more A-beta deposition in the brain, greater loss of neurons, and other Alzheimer's disease-related neuropathology.[15,16] One study of 444 Finnish men found that an elevated blood cholesterol level (> 6.5 mmol/L) in midlife was associated with 3 times the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease in late life.[17]
Two recent studies of patients who had been prescribed statin drugs found a significantly lower risk of Alzheimer's disease compared with similar patients who were not prescribed these medications.[18,19] Whether the observed reduction in Alzheimer's disease resulted from cholesterol lowering or some other property of these medications remains to be seen as the findings of related studies emerge.
The 3 prospective dietary studies conducted in Chicago,[20] New York,[21] and Rotterdam[22] also examined the relation of dietary fat intake to the development of Alzheimer's disease. The Chicago study reported the strongest evidence of an association. High intake of saturated fat doubled the risk of Alzheimer's disease, and even moderate intake of trans fat increased the risk by 2 to 3 times.[20] By contrast, higher intake of both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats was associated with lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
The New York study found evidence of a greater 4-year risk of Alzheimer's disease for those with higher intakes of total fat and saturated fat but no evidence of an association with the intake of polyunsaturated fat.[21] Investigators for the Rotterdam study also found an increased risk of disease with higher intakes of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol after 2 years of follow-up,[22] but none of the dietary fats was associated with Alzheimer's disease after 6 years of follow-up.[23] Further study will be required to understand the inconsistent findings across studies and to determine whether the composition of fat in the diet is causally related to risk of Alzheimer's disease.
Martha Clare Morris, ScD, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine and the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
Niacin
Eating foods that are rich in niacin now may reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later, reports Reuters of new research from the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging in Chicago. Why? A severe niacin deficiency is known to cause dementia. Until this study, it was not known whether a moderate deficiency ups the risk of mental deterioration.
Foods rich in niacin aren't the only way your diet can protect you from Alzheimer's Find out other foods that offer the same protection.
The study: Until now, there have been no studies to assess the link between dietary niacin and Alzheimer's disease or cognitive decline. The animal studies that have been done focused only on the effects of very high therapeutic dose levels of niacin and not the amounts that are typically found in a healthy diet. So the Rush Institute researchers asked several thousand elderly people living in a Chicago community about the types and amounts of food they ate and tested their mental abilities, reports Reuters. Then 815 people were randomly selected from this group, all of whom were free from Alzheimer's when the study began. During the next four years, 131 developed Alzheimer's disease.
If you do this every day, you're more likely to keep your mind and memory sharp well into old age. Click to find out what it is.
The results: Those who had the highest niacin intake through food had an 80 percent reduction in risk of developing Alzheimer's, compared with those who had the lowest amount of dietary niacin. Niacin consumed through food offered greater protection than vitamin supplements. More research is needed before changes can be made to current dietary guidelines. The study findings were published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.
Foods rich in niacin include fortified cereals, light meat chicken, canned white tuna, peanut butter, a baked potato with the skin, braised top round steak, long grain brown rice, enriched pasta, and whole wheat bread.
Alpha Lipoic Acid
In early 2004, researchers from Hannover Germany published data with an enormous promise of stopping the progression of Alzheimers Disease. In this small but ground-breaking study, nine Alzheimer's patients with an average of 67 were given 600 mg of alpha-lipoic acid daily for almost a year. Alpha-Lipoic acid is a thiol-based pro-glutathione agent, which increases intracellular glutathione as do N acetyl-cysteine and bioactive whey proteins. During the period of one year, testing revealed that their condition stabilized and they didn't experience any additional loss of cognitive function, which otherwise would have been expected. 1. Each of the patients was evaluated using the Alzheimer's Disease Cognitive Assessment Scale (ADAScog) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
1. Arch Gerontol Geriatr 01:32:275-282.
Vitamin B-12
A significant number of people diagnosed with Senile Dementia or Alzheimer’s and now in treatment facilities may not really have the disease. In many cases, cognitive impairment in the elderly was actually a deficiency in vitamin B12, the nutrient most critical to memory function and possibly important in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
One study found that patients with low levels of vitamin B12 were 4 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, one Canadian researcher found that Alzheimer’s patients with the least vitamin B12 in their blood had the most cognitive impairment.
How much vitamin B12 should you be getting every day to boost your memory and reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s? Probably more than what’s in the average multivitamin, and if you’re over 50, your needs are even greater.
Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA).
New research suggests that ALA is another nutrient may protect the brain and improve memory. It’s also one of the most powerful antioxidants. In one study, when Alzheimer’s patients were given ALA, their condition stabilized. They didn’t get better, but they stopped getting worse. No current drug therapy has shown a stabilization of disease.
Curcumin
Alzheimer’s disease is rare in India. Curcumin (also known as turmeric), is an ingredient in curry powder which is used in many Indian dishes. Researchers at the University of California confirm its ability to protect the brain.
Aluminum
It may also be wise to avoid aluminum. Strong research links it to Alzheimer’s. Aluminum deposition is found in the brains of patients who have died from Alzheimer's disease. It is not know if the aluminum is a cause of the disease or a physiologic abnormality that accompanies the disease. Nonetheless, since aluminum supplementation or absorption carries no benefits and may carry risks, it might be prudent to avoid this metal. It may be prudent to avoid aluminum cookware, certain antacids (which frequently contain aluminum), and any food or drink that comes in an aluminum can. The aluminum could leach from the can into the liquid or food contained within, especially if the interior surface is not coated with an inert material. This is what gives some liquids and foods (especially acidic liquids or foods) stored in aluminum a "metallic taste". Most antiperspirants contain aluminum, too. If the one you’re using does, at least make sure you’re using a roll-on or stick— and not an aerosol. Inhaled aluminum particles may be the most dangerous because they have a greater liklihood of traveling directly to the brain.
Can Teenage Traits Predict Alzheimer's?
Source: netscape "What's new" 7/17/04
Being president of the high school French club, an honor roll student, and the fastest runner on the cross country team could do more than boost your chances for college admissions. Much more. Challenging activities and high test scores as a teenager could also lower your risk for developing the debilitating Alzheimer's disease and other memory disorders as an older adult.
At least that's the hypothesis formulated by Thomas Fritsch, a Case Western Reserve University research psychologist, who is conducting a study of 663 graduates of Cleveland Heights High School who received their diplomas in 1944, 1945, and 1946. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, preliminary study results show that young people who develop their minds in class and in after-school activities in high school have a far lower chance of developing the memory-robbing disease later.
It's the use-it-or-lose-it theory. Other studies have shown that adults in their middle-age and senior years who use their minds daily by reading or learning new things are at a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's, but no other study has gone back as far as the teenage years to find such a link. Fritsch is doing just that, analyzing the students' grades in every class, scores on three standardized aptitude tests, and their extracurricular activities to see if there is a correlation between what they did at age 16 and how their minds function at age 75.
The preliminary study: The preliminary results are intriguing. Each of the 663 participants was contacted by telephone and asked a series of questions to determine their current level of cognitive abilities and memory function. The results of these neurocognitive tests, along with basic facts from their high school records, were entered into a computer program.
The preliminary results: There is a correlation between high scores on an aptitude test called the "Otis Self-Administering Tests of Mental Ability" taken when the students were 15 and better memory functioning at age 75. "We found that those who had better cognitive function in youth had better cognitive functioning as 75-year-olds," Fritsch told the Plain Dealer.
The next question to be answered: Did the seniors who have memory problems now also earn lower test scores in high school, participate in fewer school activities, and get lower grades?
Can teenage abilities and achievements actually be a barometer of a person's mental agility during old age? "It's possible that the enhanced skills associated with higher test scores might be an indicator of cognitive reserve," Fritsch told the Plain Dealer. "Those reserves might build up resistance against memory problems as we age."
The preliminary study findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in San Diego.
Alzheimer's Disease and Glutathione
Alzheimer's Disease and Diet
Acetyl-carnitine
Alpha Lipoic Acid
B Vitamins
Curcumin
Ginkgo Biloba
Medical Doctor Testimonial on MS
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