Through witnessing the effect Alzheimer's disease has on a family member’s emotional well-being and their path to slow mental deterioration; spurred our desire to pursue a degree in preventative care. As a young person, we used to surprise how a patient got this disease, and if there was a solution to prevent it. Most cases of Alzheimer’s occur later in life but alarmingly, it’s getting down to also seem in younger people.
As the fields of lifestyle medicine and preventative care grow, researchers have found that a vegetarian diet is essential to reduce the risk of this devastating disease. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, our genes might not be our determined destiny. The question that we want to ask is: how can we alter the course of a disease that may be lurking in the way forward for our overall health?
Although it’s not as often discussed, our mental health has a constant degree of importance as our physical health. And, just as a good diet is essential to good physical health, it’s also the key to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and defend our mental health in the long-term. In fact, it's been found that diet is reticular with several conditions like dementedness, Alzheimer’s, and many others. Surprisingly, studies indicate that diet can influence the body’s nervous system. A higher chance of cognitive decline is seen in patients that relishes a diet rich in saturated fats, dairy, meat product, fat, and sugar.
Another attention-grabbing report is that neurodegenerative disease risks are lowered with a vegetarian diet that's high in antioxidants, fiber, and low in saturated fats. It’s also been shown that cognitive health is improved with a vegetarian diet. People in mid-life with plant-based diets low in saturated fats incontestable a lower risk of dementedness and Alzheimer’s disease later in life. The middle-aged group of low-risk patients was then compared to people with unhealthy diets high in meat and dairy food. The eye-opening results were that the latter cluster had a way higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease than the patients with a healthy diet. The healthy diet patients had an 86-90 % decreased risk of dementedness and a 90-92% decreased risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared with the patients with an unhealthy diet. A follow-up long-term study over 20-30 years found that people with higher cholesterol levels in mid-life had a 50 % higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Even though Alzheimer’s disease is affected by genetics and age-related factors, it does not lessen the fact that the risk of Alzheimer’s is heightened by increased blood lipids, blood pressure, and diabetes.
In 2013, the International Conference on Nutrition and also the Brain agreed on evidence-based guidelines for the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease.
1. Decrease saturated fats, trans fat, hydrogenated They agreed that decreasing the intake of saturated fats (dairy product meats and bound oils) and trans fats or hydrogenated fats (processed foods) reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The replacements they recommended are unit vegetables, pulses, fruits, and whole grains.
2. Eat foods high in vitamin E. Vitamin E should come from food sources instead of supplements. Consume foods high in vitamin E, like seeds, nuts, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains. B-complex vitamin or fortified foods should be a district of the diet. Patients should take care once mistreatment multiple vitamins by selecting supplements without iron and copper.
3. Avoid product with aluminium. you should avoid antacids baking powder, and products containing aluminium.
4. Do aerobic exercise. You need to add aerobic exercise to your schedule, which will cause blood flow to the brain to increase neural connections. One sensible example of this can be 40 minutes of brisk walking 3 times per week.
I should add that there is one more power food that can boost the protection of the nervous system: berries. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are effective because of their high flavonoid content. Flavonoids are considered neuroprotective and only found in plants. In one study with approximately 130,00 subjects over the course of 20 years, scientists found that individuals that consumed the most berries had a significantly lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. Increased intake of flavonoids slowed down cognitive decline.
The conclusion that these health care providers came to was that the vegetarian diet can protect the nervous system and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.