How To Slash Dementia Risk In 5 Minutes Per Day (M)
Skipping this activity increases dementia risk substantially.
Category: Dementia
This Alzheimer’s Sign Comes 10 Years Before Symptoms (M)
The sign comes 10 years before memory and thinking problems are obvious.
The Vitamin Deficiency That May Double Cognitive Decline Risk (M)
Those in the study with lower vitamin levels at the start were at double the risk of significant cognitive decline.
What Happens When Dementia Patients Listen To Music (M)
Research uncovers the real effects of music therapy on dementia patients.
Eat Green, Stay Sharp: The Diet That May Rewind Brain Aging
A version of the Mediterranean diet reduces memory loss and slows down brain shrinkage.
A version of the Mediterranean diet reduces memory loss and slows down brain shrinkage.
The green Mediterranean diet, which is plant-based and enriched with polyphenols and low in meat, appears to slow down age-related brain atrophy.
Although factors such as aging and obesity can cause shrinkage of the brain cells leading to cognitive decline and dementia, certain diets can help to prevent brain atrophy.
To test that, a clinical trial examined the impact of a high-polyphenol Mediterranean diet (GREEN-MED) on age-related brain atrophy.
The trial ran for 18 months involving 284 obese participants who were divided into three groups (healthy dietary guidelines, Mediterranean diet, and GREEN-MED) combined with aerobic exercise.
Participants also underwent whole-brain MRI scans at the start and end of the study.
All participants received physical activity (PA) programs and free gym membership.
Besides PA sessions, the healthy dietary guidelines group received regular nutritional counselling sessions promoting healthy diets.
The Mediterranean diet (MED) and the GREEN-MED groups had to follow a low calorie diet; 1200-1400 kcal per day for women and 1500-1800 kcal per day for men.
Their everyday diet was low in carbohydrates, rich in vegetables, including fish and poultry instead of red meat, and 28 grams of walnuts, containing 440 mg of polyphenols.
In addition to these, the GREEN-MED group drank 3 to 4 cups of green tea per day, and their dinner was a green shake of Mankai duckweed containing 800 mg of polyphenols.
The results showed that brain shrinkage was reduced significantly in those who followed either the MED or GREEN-MED diets.
The effect was even greater in the GREEN-MED group, particularly for those over age 50, suggesting the diet is neuroprotective.
The study’s authors wrote:
“The beneficial association between MED and age-related neurodegeneration might be partially explained by the abundance of polyphenols in plant-based food sources which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory metabolites.
Polyphenols can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) reduce neuroinflammation and induce cell proliferation
and adult-onset neurogenesis in the hippocampus.”
The authors concluded:
“Our findings might suggest a simple, safe, and promising avenue to slow age-related neurodegeneration by adhering to a green-Mediterranean diet.”
A different study also found that the Green Med diet is better than the traditional Mediterranean diet since it reduces the odds of developing diabetes and heart disease even more.
The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Kaplan et al., 2022).
Six Minutes To Better Memory: This Exercise Boosts Neuroplasticity And Resists Brain Aging
Just six minutes of this exercise improves memory while reducing the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
Just six minutes of this exercise improves memory while reducing the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
The reward for doing 6 minutes of high-intensity workout is a brain that is more resilient to aging, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.
According to a study, short intervals of vigorous exercise improve the production of a protein involved in brain function related to memory, learning, and flexibility.
Our brain has the ability to learn, adapt, and function through a process known as neuroplasticity.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the particular protein that boosts neuroplasticity and protects neurons.
Past research has suggested that higher levels of BDNF enhance memory storage, memory formation, improve learning processes, and increase cognitive function.
BDNF’s capability of protecting nerve cells has encouraged researchers to find out if this protein can slow brain aging.
Dr Travis Gibbons, the study’s first author, said:
“BDNF has shown great promise in animal models, but pharmaceutical interventions have thus far failed to safely harness the protective power of BDNF in humans.
We saw the need to explore non-pharmacological approaches that can preserve the brain’s capacity which humans can use to naturally increase BDNF to help with healthy aging.”
The team wanted to see if either calorie restriction or exercise or both have any effect on BDNF production.
For this, they compared the factors below to examine the solo and joint impacts:
- 90 minutes of low-intensity cycling
- Six minutes of high-intensity cycling intervals
- Fasting for 20 hours
- Fasting with exercise
Short but vigorous exercise appeared to be the most effective approach for elevating BDNF levels compared with light exercise or fasting with or without prolonged low-intensity workouts.
The 6-minute high-intensity workouts increased serum concentration of BDNF by five times.
Prolonged low-intensity cycling showed a slight increase in serum levels, from 336 pg/L to 390 pg/L, while fasting had no effect.
Such contrasting findings might be due to a cerebral substrate switch, the brain’s fuel source shifting from glucose to either ketone bodies or lactate.
It appears that the brain switches from glucose to lactate during exercise, leading to production of BDNF, while fasting causes an increase in ketone body delivery to the brain.
Platelets are tiny blood cells that store BDNF and exercise increased numbers of platelets by 20 percent compared to fasting.
The team also want to find out whether intermittent fasting with exercise would have a greater influence on BDNF and cognitive functions.
Dr Gibbons added:
“We are now studying how fasting for longer durations, for example up to three days, influences BDNF.
We are curious whether exercising hard at the start of a fast accelerates the beneficial effects of fasting.
Fasting and exercise are rarely studied together.
We think fasting and exercise can be used in conjunction to optimize BDNF production in the human brain.”
The study was published in the journal The Journal of Physiology (Gibbons et al., 2023).
These Emotions Bring On Alzheimer’s Symptoms Years Earlier
People with these conditions experience Alzheimer’s symptoms up to 7 years earlier.
People with these conditions experience Alzheimer’s symptoms up to 7 years earlier.
Both depression and anxiety increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
People who are depressed develop the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, two years earlier.
Those with anxiety develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s three years earlier.
Having multiple mental health problems is linked to developing symptoms of the disease even sooner.
Dr Zachary A. Miller, the study’s first author, said:
“More research is needed to understand the impact of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety on the development of Alzheimer’s disease and whether treatment and management of depression and anxiety could help prevent or delay the onset of dementia for people who are susceptible to it.
Certainly this isn’t to say that people with depression and anxiety will necessarily develop Alzheimer’s disease, but people with these conditions might consider discussing ways to promote long-term brain health with their health care providers.”
The study included 1,500 people with Alzheimer’s disease who were asked about their mental health.
The results revealed that the more mental health problems people had, the sooner they began experiencing dementia symptoms.
Three or more psychiatric disorders together was linked to developing symptoms more than 7 years earlier them.
Both depression and anxiety were linked to a history of autoimmune disorders.
Dr Miller said:
“While this association between depression and autoimmune disease, and seizures and anxiety is quite preliminary, we hypothesize that the presentation of depression in some people could possibly reflect a greater burden of neuroinflammation.
The presence of anxiety might indicate a greater degree of neuronal hyperexcitability, where the networks in the brain are overstimulated, potentially opening up new therapeutic targets for dementia prevention.”
The study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 73rd Annual Meeting (Miller et al., 2021).
The Common Depression Meds That May Accelerate Dementia (M)
A popular class of antidepressants may come with an unexpected risk for cognitive health.
Reduce Brain Aging By Eating This Once A Week
The food that protects against cognitive decline.
The food that protects against cognitive decline.
Eating seafood once a week, or food that contains omega-3 fatty acids, may protect against age-related memory loss.
The study found that people who ate seafood less than once a week had a steeper mental decline with age.
Dr Martha Clare Morris, who led the study, said:
“This study helps show that while cognitive abilities naturally decline as part of the normal aging process, there is something that we can do to mitigate this process.”
For the research, 915 people were followed for around 5 years.
They all came from retirement communities and public housing in Illinois and their average age was over 80.
All had memory tests and reported how much seafood they ate.
This included foods like fish cakes, tuna sandwiches, shrimp and crab.
The results showed that people who ate more seafood had better semantic memory: this is something like general knowledge.
Consuming more seafood was also linked to stronger perceptual skills.
The study was published in the journal Neurology (van de Rest et al., 2016).
Even ‘Normal’ Levels Of This Vitamin Are Linked To Cognitive Decline (M)
Are we underestimating the impact of this vitamin on neurological health?
