Avoiding Alzheimer’s Through A Healthy Diet
Various researches show that it is possible to avoid Alzheimer’s. Through good habits in your diet and daily activities it is possible to counteract the onset of Alzheimer’s.
Avoiding Alzheimer’s through a healthy diet is one of the options to reduce the possibility of this condition occurring. read this article to find out the details.
What is Alzheimer’s?
Before talking about how to prevent Alzheimer’s, it is better to know some aspects related to this disease that affects millions of people around the world. It is a neuro-degenerative disorder also known as “senile dementia”.
Patients affected by the disease lose their short-term memory and experience a decline in their mental abilities. This is due to the death of some nerve cells and the atrophy of certain areas of the brain.
A person can “live with” Alzheimer’s for up to ten years after his diagnosis, getting worse over time. It is an incurable disease that occurs mainly in people over the age of sixty-five.
It was discovered by two German psychiatrists at the beginning of the last century and its initial symptom is the inability to store information or to remember what has been said.
As Alzheimer’s progresses, symptoms become mental confusion, aggression, irritability, mood swings, long-term memory loss, isolation, speech problems. The causes of this disease are still unknown and medical treatment is needed to achieve some improvements, but not to cure it completely.
Good habits to avoid Alzheimer’s
As mentioned before, there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s nor a treatment or medicine that can fight it. For this reason, experts recommend maintaining good eating and physical habits to ensure that this disease cannot develop so easily or that the symptoms are milder. These are the habits to follow to avoid Alzheimer’s.
- Reduce your intake of trans fats and saturated fats. These increase blood cholesterol levels and stimulate the production of dangerous plaques in the brain, characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease.
- Eat more vegetables, legumes, grains and fruits. These foods cannot be missing from your daily diet to avoid Alzheimer’s. In fact, they are rich in minerals and vitamins (such as B6 and folic acid). They help protect the brain and avoid cognitive impairment. In addition, they reduce the risk of suffering from obesity, type 2 diabetes and cholesterol, all diseases linked to Alzheimer’s.
- Take vitamin E every day. The recommended dose is 5mg because this antioxidant is great for the brain. You can find it in seeds, nuts, papaya, mango, avocado, tomato, red pepper, spinach, enriched cereals and bread.
- Include vitamin B12 supplements. You find them in products of animal origin and in enriched foods. They serve to reduce the levels of amino acids linked to cognitive impairment. Taking vitamin B helps improve memory and reduce brain atrophy. We recommend a plant-based diet for people over the age of fifty.
- To avoid Alzheimer’s, check your diabetes. Several studies have shown that type 2 diabetes increases the risk of suffering from Alzheimer’s because it involves high blood sugar levels that damage the brain.
Other precautions to follow
- Use vegetable oils. They are rich in Omega 3 and you can use flax or hemp. An alternative is fish oil, always taking into account the origin and the added ingredients. Many fish contain mercury, the toxicity of which is linked to Alzheimer’s.
- Avoid the consumption of vitamin complexes with copper and iron. Excessive use of these nutrients could generate brain problems and among other things they are already present in many foods we consume.
- Reduce the use of aluminum. This material from which pots and pans, spatulas and ladles are made, is not good for health. There isn’t much research on aluminum foil yet, but it’s always best to avoid it.
- Walk three times a week. To avoid Alzheimer’s, walk vigorously for forty minutes each. This will help you not only lose weight and set aside a sedentary lifestyle, but also reduce the risk of suffering from dementia by up to 50%.
