What is Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is a highly incapacitating disorder that induces a gradual loss of mental faculties, to the point of making the performance of common daily activities IMPOSSIBLE; Alzheimer's disease occurs more or less in middle age and manifests itself with a cognitive decline caused by the degeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) which results in a progressive dementia (currently) NOT curable.
Although modern medicine is IMPOTENT in restoring brain function, great strides have been made in mitigating the degenerative progression and prevention of onset; in addition to specific drugs, both statistics and the clinic have been able to highlight some essential components of lifestyle and diet, responsible for:
- Preservation (depending on family predispositions) of the CNS from Alzheimer's disease
- Slow down of pathological progression and injury
NB . Obviously, if applied to a person suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the optimization of diet and lifestyle is NOT a proper treatment but rather a preventive and palliative therapy on the increasing dementia.
Diet and Lifestyle
We begin by emphasizing that both diet and lifestyle play a fundamental role in preventing and fighting Alzheimer's disease; Numerous scientific insights show that:
regular physical activity and "mental gymnastics" (anthological reading and the pursuit of intellectual and managerial habits), constitute two primary elements against the onset and the development of Alzheimer's disease.
Furthermore, by making a nutritional anamnesis of the affected and healthy people, a clear POSITIVE correlation was found between: a diet rich in saturated or hydrogenated fatty acids and cholesterol, with early and progressive brain degeneration. On the contrary, a diet rich in: dietary fiber (whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fresh fruit), antioxidants (B-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, polyphenols, etc.), phytosterols and polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 family, omega-6 family, omega-9 family), seems to PROTECT from Alzheimer's onset.
Notice how ALL the nutritional characteristics mentioned above perfectly reflect the cardinal principles of the Mediterranean diet ; the appropriate diet to prevent and delay the symptoms of Alzheimer's is therefore the same as recommended to reduce the cardiovascular risk .
The Mediterranean diet for Alzheimer's can therefore boast the following beneficial effects:
- Slow down cognitive decline in the elderly
- Reduce the risk of mild cognitive decline (MCI) as an intermediate phase between the physiological and Alzheimer's dementia
- Reduce the risk that mild cognitive decline (MCI) results in Alzheimer's disease proper.
At the moment it is not yet clear what the preventive mechanisms of the Mediterranean diet are for Alzheimer's disease, however, it is possible that the right dietary choices favor the moderation of triglycerides and cholesterol in the blood, as well as the maintenance of glycemia and insulinemia in the right limits of normality; furthermore, by virtue of the recent discoveries on the lipid up-take of nerve cells (which highlights how diet fats can contribute to the composition of membranes and neuronal myelin sheaths), it is possible to hypothesize that saturated and hydrogenated fats, these last above all in trans configuration, NEGATIVELY affect the maintenance of brain functions.
Conclusions
Ultimately, that the Mediterranean diet (undertaken in the course of life) proves to be protective for MCI (mild cognitive impairment) and for Alzheimer's is an almost incontrovertible statistic!
On the other hand, it is however necessary to specify that the historical-regressive study of the causes, events and pathological course of Alzheimer's disease does NOT constitute an analytical protocol of simple progress; this derives from the fact that patients suffering from progressive dementia often manifest strong memory alterations and, at times, even behavioral changes, complicating chronological reconstruction (lack of collaboration, aggression, frustration, etc.).
Further investigations are expected to be able to more accurately assess and quantify the preventive and palliative role of the Mediterranean diet on Alzheimer's disease.
