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By the author of the acclaimed Dana Sourcebook of Brain Science.
Source: Cerebrum/Dana Foundation
The Four Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention
By: Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., and George Perry, Ph.D.
Editor’s Note: Much is yet to be discovered about the precise biological changes that
cause Alzheimer’s, disease, why it progresses more quickly in some than in
others, and how the disease can be prevented, slowed, or stopped. And while
researchers continue to search for the magic pill that can prevent or halt the
spread of amyloid in the brain, our authors believe that changing or modifying
one’s lifestyle and attitude can make a difference in both prevention and
treatment.
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Memory
problems come in all shapes and sizes. Some people tend to forget where they
put their cell phone, or cannot easily recall names. Or they can’t recall
taking their medication or remember the birthday or anniversary of a loved one.
Whether they admit to themselves that their forgetfulness seems to happen with
greater frequency or they worry about losing their memory as they age, they are
right to be concerned. Because our aging population is on the rise, Alzheimer’s
disease (AD)—
an irreversible, progressive form of dementia
that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills as people age and is ultimately
fatal—has steadily
risen from about 4 million in the late 1990s to 5.4 million today.
The
disease is currently ranked as the sixth leading cause of death in the US, but
estimates by the National Institute on Aging indicate that it may rank third,
just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people. But here is some good
news: Whether you want to reverse cognitive deficits now or avoid them later,
more and more studies are suggesting that there is much you can do to keep your
mind sharp.
While a
pharmaceutical approach to preventing AD has proved elusive, practical
lifestyle choices to reduce AD are based on good science and good sense. The
secret may lie in
epigenetics, the
effect one’s lifestyle has on one’s genes, and thus on the risk for disease. Of
course, the wisdom that lifestyle has an impact on health is not new; we have
been reciting adages such as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” for ages.
Research in a variety of areas has confirmed that sensible everyday choices can
significantly reduce the risk of AD. According to the National Institutes of
Health, $991 million was dedicated to AD research in 2016, but how much of that
went towards lifestyle-modification and prevention is unclear.
Funding
uncertainty notwithstanding, the positive effects of a healthier lifestyle on
cognition were recently documented for the first time in a longitudinal study.
The two-year, 1,200 participant
Finnish
Interventional Geriatric Study for the Prevention of Cognitive Disability
(FINGER) showed that a healthy diet, exercise, socialization, and mental
stimulation can dramatically reduce the development of AD in people at risk for
cognitive decline. The French
MAPT
Study: A Multidomain Approach for Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease also
suggested that lifestyle modification has an effect in reducing risk factors.
This multi-domain approach is
consistent with the four-pillar strategy recommended by a number of reputable
sources, including the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation (ARPF),
the Dana Alliance, the American Association of Retired Persons, and the
Alzheimer’s Association.
The
aforementioned studies add substantially to mounting scientific evidence that suggests
lifestyle and psychological well-being play a critically important role in
Alzheimer’s prevention. We have taken them into account, along with our own
findings, in fine-tuning our longstanding recommendations for staving off and
even helping to reverse AD to the following four strategies. The secret to AD
prevention is tied to maintaining connections: between your brain cells, other
people, and your well-being.
Pillar 1: Diet and Supplements
Diet is
one of the most important targets for lifestyle modification to prevent AD.
Many people still blindly follow the Standard American Diet, or SAD. According
to the US Government, about 75 percent of all Americans do not consume an
adequate amount of vegetables and fruits, while most exceed the recommended
amount of sugars, saturated fats, sodium, and calories. Studies show that
rejecting SAD may be critical in the fight against AD.
The science reveals that those who eschew processed foods and
choose whole, real-food options have the least decline in mental faculty.
Research published in the Alzheimer’s Association’s journal
Alzheimer’s & Dementia, for example,
confirms that making the switch from a fat- and meat-heavy way of eating to a
primarily plant-based diet—no matter how old a person is when doing so— can
slow and possibly reverse memory loss.The
components of a healthy diet may enhance cognitive performance by one or more
of several actions: affecting synaptic
plasticity, synaptic membrane fluidity, glucose utilization, mitochondrial
function, or reducing oxidative stress.
Many studies highlight the Mediterranean diet that is rich in
vegetables, fruit, nuts, olive oil, and fish or seafood. Researchers at UCLA
discovered that study participants who followed
this eating plan, which is modeled on the traditional diet of certain
Mediterranean peoples, had lower levels of AD’s hallmark amyloid-beta plaques
in the spaces between their brain nerve cells, along with fewer telltale
tangles of tau protein—meaning those important cell connections were firing
properly.
And at the Mayo Clinic, through MRI scans, researchers found that
participants who followed the Mediterranean diet for a year had greater
thickness in parts of their brain’s cortex that play a role in memory. Those on
the SAD diet, on the other hand, lost cortex. These findings have implications for
maintaining cognitive function: positive
associations of the Mediterranean Diet scores were observed with average
cortical thickness in parietal and frontal lobes, and in regions of the brain
that mediate or support elements such as memory, executive function, and
language. Americanized
versions of the Mediterranean diet, as well as the MIND (
Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay
)
and DASH
(Dietary Approaches to Stop
Hypertension)
diets, have also shown promising
results. Research from Rush University,
where the MIND diet was
developed by nutritional
epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris,
revealed
that the MIND diet could turn back your mental aging clock the equivalent of up
to 7.5 years. Although this is now widely accepted by researchers, further
confirmative studies are ongoing.
The ARPF nutrition plan has much in common with both the
Mediterranean and MIND diets. Some of
the organization’s main tenets are:
●
Vegetarian foods:
A
vegetarian diet—full of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, legumes and
soy—improves focus and begets higher productivity. Wild-caught salmon is the
only animal protein the Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation’s diet
recommends for its brain-friendly omega-3 fats, advising eating it only two to
three times a week.
●
Juicing:
Fresh juices are alive with the vitamins, minerals, trace
elements, and phytonutrients needed to strengthen the brain.
●
Supplements
: Take a high-potency multivitamin and multi-mineral supplement
that includes folic acid. Memory specific supplements of omega-3 oils,
phosphatidyl-serine, coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, huperzine-A, and
resveratrol are also recommended.
As previously noted, we suspect that certain genes can influence
risk of developing AD. But well-chosen foods and their nutrients may move gene
expression toward a sharp brain. “Genetics are not our destiny,” says Victor S.
Sierpina, M.D., professor of family and integrative medicine at the University
of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. “How we eat can have a major impact in
reducing our risk of developing this feared condition.” By moving away from the
SAD diet to a more Mediterranean-type diet, it is possible to eat for optimal
brain health.
