Category: Dementia

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).

The types of fruit that can reduce cognitive aging and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s in midlife.

Daily consumption of strawberries or blueberries may lower the odds of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in middle-aged men and women.

According to a study, both strawberries and blueberries contain effective antioxidants that help prevent the risk of late-life dementia.

Midlife adults can get the optimal health effect if consuming at least one cup of whole strawberries or blueberries per day.

Anti-aging antioxidants

A group of antioxidants called anthocyanins are responsible for the red, purple, or blue pigments of fruits and flowers.

Studies show that these antioxidants, due to their anti-inflammatory effect, can lower the risk of heart disease, type-2 diabetes and cancer.

Berries are rich in anthocyanins and several nutrients such as ellagic acid, that is known for its anti-aging effects, and improving memory and other cognitive skills.

Professor Robert Krikorian, the study’s first author, said:

“Both strawberries and blueberries contain antioxidants called anthocyanins, which have been implicated in a variety of berry health benefits such as metabolic and cognitive enhancements.

There is epidemiological data suggesting that people who consume strawberries or blueberries regularly have a slower rate of cognitive decline with aging.”

Slow cognitive decline

Around half of the American adult population with prediabetes are middle-aged.

This group are more vulnerable to memory loss and cognitive decline.

Past research has suggested that eating strawberries can boost cardiovascular health by improving insulin sensitivity and lowering blood glucose levels.

This study investigated whether strawberry consumption provides any health benefit in overweight middle-aged individuals with self-reported cognitive decline.

Professor Krikorian said:

“This study assessed whether strawberry consumption might improve cognitive performance and metabolic health in this population, and if so, whether there might be an association between cognitive enhancement and reduced metabolic disturbance.”

One cup of strawberries

The participants in this study received every day a sachet of strawberry powder, equal to one cup of whole strawberries, for 3 months.

During the study period, the participants took various tests to measure their cognitive abilities such as long-term memory, as well as their emotional state such as mood, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

The strawberry-treated group experienced a significant reduction in memory interference.

Professor Krikorian said:

“Reduced memory interference refers to less confusion of semantically related terms on a word-list learning test.

This phenomenon generally is thought to reflect better executive control in terms of resisting intrusion of non-target words during the memory testing.”

Furthermore, the strawberry-treated participants also experienced less depressive symptoms.

Professor Krikorian said the positive effects can be due to:

“…enhanced executive ability that would provide better emotional control and coping and perhaps better problem-solving.”

Lowering brain inflammation

Other studies have found that higher consumption of strawberries improves metabolic measures such as lowering insulin levels.

Professor Krikorian pointed out:

“Those studies generally used higher dosages of strawberry powder than in our research, and this could have been a factor.”

It seems the improvement of cognitive function by eating strawberries could be due to decreased brain inflammation.

Professor Krikorian said:

“Executive abilities begin to decline in midlife and excess abdominal fat, as in insulin resistance and obesity, will tend to increase inflammation, including in the brain.

So, one might consider that our middle-aged, overweight, prediabetic sample had higher levels of inflammation that contributed to at least mild impairment of executive abilities.

Accordingly, the beneficial effects we observed might be related to moderation of inflammation in the strawberry group.”

Related

• One cup of cranberries a day reduces the risk of neurodegenerative disorders.
• Lingonberry juice lowers blood pressure in the long-term.
• Flavonoid-rich foods can reduce blood pressure levels.
• Blackcurrants are found to improve mood.

The study was published in the journal of Nutrients  (Krikorian et al., 2023).

It is thought that the vitamin helps clear the brain of the characteristic tangles of proteins that form in dementia.

Taking vitamin D supplement could decrease dementia risk, a large study suggests.

People who took vitamin D supplements lived for longer without developing dementia and overall had a 40 percent lower risk of developing the disease.

Adequate vitamin D levels have been repeatedly linked to lower dementia risk by research (1, 2, 3, 4).

One study has even suggested that adequate levels of vitamin D could prevent almost one-in-five cases of dementia (Navale et al., 2022).

However, the link remains somewhat controversial, with other studies finding no connection (also: Owusu et al., 2018).

Professor Zahinoor Ismail, the study’s first author, acknowledged the contradictory findings from past studies:

“We know that vitamin D has some effects in the brain that could have implications for reducing dementia, however so far, research has yielded conflicting results.

Our findings give key insights into groups who might be specifically targeted for vitamin D supplementation.

Overall, we found evidence to suggest that earlier supplementation might be particularly beneficial, before the onset of cognitive decline.”

Vitamin D and dementia

For this study, data from over 12,000 participants in the US National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center was analysed.

Just over one-third were taking vitamin D supplements.

The results showed that vitamin D supplementation was associated with a reduced dementia risk in all groups.

However, the connection was stronger in women and people who had no pre-existing cognitive deficits, such as mild cognitive impairment.

Similarly, carriers of the APOEe4 gene appeared to benefit more from vitamin D supplementation.

The APOEe4 gene significantly increases the risk of developing dementia.

It is thought that vitamin D helps to clear the brain of the characteristic tangles of proteins that form, known as amyloid and tau.

Dr Byron Creese, study co-author, said:

“Preventing dementia or even delaying its onset is vitally important given the growing numbers of people affected.

The link with vitamin D in this study suggests that taking vitamin D supplements may be beneficial in preventing or delaying dementia, but we now need clinical trials to confirm whether this is really the case.

The ongoing VitaMIND study at the University of Exeter is exploring this issue further by randomly assigning participants to either take vitamin D or placebo and examining changes in memory and thinking tests over time.”

Despite these findings, it is not recommended to take high levels of vitamin D as a preventative measure.

Recommended doses are 600 IU per day for people under 70 and 800 IU for those over 70.

The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring (Ghahremani et al., 2023).

Memory problems are one of the key symptoms of dementia.

A folate deficiency is linked to a tripling in the chance of developing dementia in older people, research finds.

Folates include vitamin B9, folacin and folic acid.

Healthy adults should get around 400mcg per day to prevent a deficiency.

Foods that are high in folates include leafy greens, beets, citrus fruits, broccoli, eggs and asparagus.

Folates are also usually contained in multivitamin supplements.

Low levels of vitamin B12 and folate have both been linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease by multiple studies.

This link has been observed by researchers for more than three decades.

A deficiency in B12 or folate can cause higher levels of the amino acid homocysteine in the body.

Homocysteine has a neurotoxic effect and could lead to neurological conditions, such as Alzheimer’s.

For the current study, 518 people over the age of 65 were tracked for two years.

They were given blood tests for levels of folate, vitamin B12 and the protein homosysteine, along with cognitive tests.

The results showed that 45 people had developed dementia by the end of the study.

People who were deficient in folates were 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia, the researchers found.

Dementia was also more likely in people whose folate levels dropped over the two years of the study.

The study’s authors write:

“In this prospective study of a community population, lower
folate concentrations predicted incident dementia and AD over
a 2.4 year follow-up period…

Over the follow-up period, dementia occurred more commonly in those with a relative decline in folate and vitamin B12 concentrations or a relative increase in homocysteine concentrations.”

A good diet is repeatedly linked by research to a reduced risk of dementia.

One study has found that people who eat more nuts, fish, poultry and certain fruits and vegetables have a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, research finds.

Set against this, those who eat more red meats, organ meats, butter and high-fat dairy products have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (Kim et al., 2019).

Scientists studied 250 people with mild cognitive impairment: a condition that can progress to dementia.

B vitamins combined with omega-3 can help slow mental decline in older people with memory problems.

Dr Celeste de Jager, one of the study’s authors, said:

“We previously found that B vitamins are able to slow or prevent the atrophy of the brain and memory decline in people with MCI.

This was most effective in those who had above average blood levels of homocysteine, a factor related to B vitamin status that may be toxic to the brain.

Scientists in our team initially found that there was a link between Omega-3 levels, homocysteine, and brain atrophy rates.

We wanted to find out whether Omega-3 and B vitamins might interact to prevent cognitive decline.”

The scientists studied 250 people with mild cognitive impairment.

This condition can progress to dementia.

The study’s first author, Dr Abderrahim Oulhaj explained the results:

“We found that for people with low levels of Omega-3, the vitamin supplements had little to no effect.

But for those with high baseline Omega-3 levels, the B vitamins were very effective in preventing cognitive decline compared to the placebo.

This result complements our previous finding that B vitamins slow the rate of brain atrophy in MCI only in those with a good Omega-3 level to start with.”

Dr Doug Brown, Director of Research and Development at Alzheimer’s Society said:

“These results help us to tease apart who could benefit from taking B vitamins, suggesting that they might only improve cognition in people who have high levels of Omega-3 oils in their blood.

Encouragingly, these findings suggest that for some older people a combination of fish oil supplements and B vitamins may help to improve thinking and memory.

As this study shows, the relationship between nutrition and brain health is complex and we need to see increased research efforts to help us understand the role that diet and nutrition can play in reducing a person’s risk of dementia.”

Related

• 12 Brain-Boosting Strategies That Protect Against Mild Cognitive Impairment (P)

The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Oulhaj et al., 2016).