Category: Dementia

Symptoms of dementia include memory loss, problems with language and changes in mood.

Drinking tea or coffee may reduce the risk of stroke and dementia by around one-third, research finds.

Dementia is a degradation of brain function and overall health that comes with age.

Symptoms include memory loss, problems with language and changes in mood.

Strokes are when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off temporarily, which can cause brain damage.

Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.

The benefits of tea may come from the flavonoids it contains.

Flavonoids are antioxidants and part of the polyphenol class found in plants and known to have several health benefits and help prevent various diseases.

Tea, berries and apples can all help ward off dementia, another study has found.

Older people eating more flavonoid-rich foods reduced their dementia risk by up to four times, that study found.

Drinking tea has also been linked to better overall brain health.

People had better connected brains if they drank all types of tea, including oolong, black or green tea, at least four times a week over a 25 year period.

Regular tea drinkers have better organised brain regions.

Moderate consumption

Chinese researchers used data from over 350,000 people in the Biobank project.

The Biobank is a long-term project that tracks the health and well-being of volunteers in the UK.

Health data for participants was tracked over at least 10 years, including their intake of tea and coffee.

The results showed that people drinking 2-3 cups of coffee or 3-5 cups of tea per day had the lowest risk of stroke or dementia.

This amount of tea lowered the risk of stroke by 32 percent and dementia by 28 percent.

The study’s authors write:

“Our findings suggested that moderate consumption of coffee and tea separately or in combination were associated with lower risk of stroke and dementia.”

The study was published in the journal PLoS Medicine (Zhang et al., 2021).

The extracts work by preventing the build up of sticky amyloid beta in the brain.

Compounds found in carrots and green tea have been shown to reverse Alzheimer’s, research finds.

The plant-based treatment was able to completely restore the memories of mice in the study.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a compound found in green tea.

Meanwhile, ferulic acid is found in rice, tomatoes, carrots, oats and wheat.

For the study, mice genetically programmed to develop the disease were given plant-based supplements for three months.

Although mouse studies often do not translate into humans, the findings are still promising, said Professor Terrence Town, study co-author:

“You don’t have to wait 10 to 12 years for a designer drug to make it to market; you can make these dietary changes today.

I find that very encouraging.”

For the research, 32 mice with Alzheimer’s symptoms were randomly assigned to different diets.

Four groups were fed with different combinations of EGCG and ferulic acid.

The dosages were 30 mg per kilogram of body weight.

This amount could easily be consumed by a human as part of a healthy diet or in the form of supplements.

The mice were given a range of tests of their memory and learning.

These are the mouse-equivalent of tests given to assess dementia in humans.

Professor Town explained the results:

“After three months, combination treatment completely restored working memory and the Alzheimer’s mice performed just as well as the healthy comparison mice.”

The group of mice that did best were those that were given both compounds together.

The two compounds appear to work by preventing the build up of sticky amyloid beta in the brain.

These are the clumps of protein seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.

The compounds also reduced neuroinflammation and oxidative stress.

The study was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry (Mori et al., 2019).

People eating this berry showed a remarkable improvement in their neural functioning, memory for everyday events and increased blood flow in the brain.

As well as lowering levels of “bad” cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein), cranberries could prevent dementia by improving memory and enhancing brain function.

According to a study, one cup of cranberries a day will reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disorders in people aged 50 and older.

The berry is rich in polyphenols including proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, hydroxycinnamic acids, and flavonols.

Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants known for their anti-inflammatory and blood pressure lowering effects.

A previous study on rats suggests that polyphenols have the ability to improve nervous system function and brain responses to stress.

The recent study examined the effects of cranberries on human cognitive function.

It involved adults aged 50 and older who were tracked for 12 weeks.

Dr David Vauzour, the study’s senior author, said:

“Dementia is expected to affect around 152 million people by 2050.

There is no known cure, so it is crucial that we seek modifiable lifestyle interventions, such as diet, that could help lessen disease risk and burden.

Past studies have shown that higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with slower rates of cognitive decline and dementia.

And foods rich in anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which give berries their red, blue, or purple colour, have been found to improve cognition.

Cranberries are rich in these micronutrients and have been recognized for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

We wanted to find out more about how cranberries could help reduce age-related neurodegeneration.”

Th study divided people into two groups; one received two sachets (each 4.5 g) of freeze-dried cranberry powder a day, an equivalent to 100 g or one cup of fresh cranberries, and the other group took a placebo.

Participants who were on cranberry supplementation showed a remarkable improvement in their neural functioning, visual episodic memory (memory for everyday events), and increased blood flow in the brain as well as low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol reduction.

Dr Vauzour said:

“We found that the participants who consumed the cranberry powder showed significantly improved episodic memory performance in combination with improved circulation of essential nutrients such as oxygen and glucose to important parts of the brain that support cognition — specifically memory consolidation and retrieval.

The cranberry group also exhibited a significant decrease in LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol levels, known to contribute to atherosclerosis — the thickening or hardening of the arteries caused by a build-up of plaque in the inner lining of an artery.

This supports the idea that cranberries can improve vascular health and may in part contribute to the improvement in brain perfusion and cognition.

Demonstrating in humans that cranberry supplementation can improve cognitive performance and identifying some of the mechanisms responsible is an important step for this research field.

The findings of this study are very encouraging, especially considering that a relatively short 12-week cranberry intervention was able to produce significant improvements in memory and neural function.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition (Flanagan et al., 2022).

People with a high risk of dementia might be able to lower the odds with these three antioxidants.

Higher blood levels of specific antioxidants could reduce the chances of developing dementia.

According to research, individuals with the highest blood concentrations of beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, and zeaxanthin antioxidants are at lower risk of getting dementia in later life.

Pistachios, egg yolk, bell peppers, corn, kiwi fruit, grapes, courgette (zucchini), squash, and green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, peas, and kale contain high amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin (Sommerburg et al., 1998).

Beta-cryptoxanthin is the other natural carotenoid that can slow down dementia due to aging.

Persimmons, oranges, carrots, peaches, tangerines, papaya, and orange maize are good sources of beta-cryptoxanthin.

Dr May Beydoun, the study’s first author, said:

“Extending people’s cognitive functioning is an important public health challenge.

Antioxidants may help protect the brain from oxidative stress, which can cause cell damage.

Further studies are needed to test whether adding these antioxidants can help protect the brain from dementia.”

For this study more than 7,000 participants age 45 or older were enrolled and followed for 16 years.

At the start they went through an interview, physical examination, and blood test to check their antioxidant levels.

The results showed that the risk of developing dementia was reduced for participants with the highest levels of lutein and zeaxanthin.

Increased amounts of lutein and zeaxanthin (15.4 μmol/l) resulted in a 7 percent lower risk of dementia.

Increased levels of beta-cryptoxanthin by 8.6 μmol/l led to a 14 percent reduced risk of dementia.

Dr Beydoun added:

“It’s important to note that the effect of these antioxidants on the risk of dementia was reduced somewhat when we took into account other factors such as education, income and physical activity, so it’s possible that those factors may help explain the relationship between antioxidant levels and dementia.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Beydoun et al., 2022).