Food that prevents Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder of brain which mainly affects the memory, thinking skills and ability to carry out the simplest daily tasks. It is a type of dementia that cause problems with memory, thinking ability and behavior of a person. Most of the people also call this problem as 'Dementia'. The simple meaning of dementia is the loss of memory which interferes with the daily activities. Usually the symptoms occurs in the old age, in people after 60's. According to Alzheimer Association, in India more than 4 million people have some form of dementia and worldwide 44 million are living with such dementia. As large number of people are affected with Alzheimer's it is necessary to address the solution for this problem.
Alzheimer's occur due to the improper functioning of the brain. In early stage of Alzheimer's the Dementia is very minimal, however as the disease progresses the symptoms starts worsening. Researchers and doctors are trying to find the cure for this problem, however there is not much success seen till now. There is no cure for dementia, however it can be prevented in various ways.
Medical Treatment
There are various medicines available that helps to reduce the symptoms of dementia and ensures that the disease doesn't progress rapidly. Medical treatment is essential to continue the daily activities. Even though medicines may become addictive the options are minimal to completely prevent the Alzheimers. As we know there is no cure for Alzheimer's it is essential to go for other options as well.
Food for prevention
According to the researchers good amount of nutritious food may able to prevent or slow down the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Nutritious and whole foods with antioxidant nutrients are required to reduce the decline in cognition level. Alzheimer's Association recommends to limit the intake of high saturated food, high trans fat food, high cholesterol food and food that contains refined sugar because these foods are threat to our brain activity and would increase the chance of suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Following food items are kind of brain boosters and help in lowering the symptoms of Alzheimer's.
Turmeric
Turmeric powder is used has been used in Indian cuisine all the time. Curcumin is the main content of Turmeric and it is believed that 'curcumin' enhances the memory power of the brain. According to the researchers, Curcumin has anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatory properties and has anti- amyloid properties. Anti-amyloid property prevents the formation of clumps pf proteins which is usually found in Alzheimer's patients. This specific nature of turmeric has proven that it can be great way to prevent or reduce the symptoms of Dementia.
Omega 3 Fatty acid
According to the recent study, researchers have shown that the risk of Alzheimer's can be lowered by consuming Omega-3 fatty acid foods. Omega -3 fatty acids improves the cognition and gradually reduces the progression of disease. Food like walnuts, flaxseed and olive oil, fish like Salmon, prawns, and tuna contains good amount of Omega 3 fatty acid. Hence it is essential to consume these fishes once a week and nuts like walnuts (2-3) every day.
Vitamin C and E
As we all know Vitamin C and E are essential for good health as they have an anti oxidant properties. It has been noticed that people with dementia and Alzheimer's disease have less amount of Vitamin C and E hence researchers advise that if we add these vitamins in the diet, it might help to protect or reduce the progress of Alzheimer's disease or dementia. The good source of food for Vitamin C is citrus food like lemon and oranges' while Vitamin E is present in green leafy vegetables, and nuts like almonds.
Nitrates
The nitrates mainly acts on the blood vessels. Nitrates widens the blood vessels and increase the blood supply to various organs especially to our brain. BEETS are one of the purple vegetable that contains large amount of nitrates. Drinking beet root juice increase the blood flow to the brain, oxygenate the brain and thus brain starts functioning efficiently. As you age the brain gets less blood supply, and hence they are more likely to develop dementia. However the dementia can be postponed by perfusing the blood flow to the brain.
Other vegetables like spinach, cabbage and celery has high concentration of nitrates.
Olive Oil
Researchers have found that olive oil has the potential to reverse the brain damage and hence has ability to reverse the problems related to memory and other daily skills. Food cooked in Olive oil has shown to reduce the symptoms of dementia in one of the research study. Researchers have found that Olive oil contains some substance that speedily removes the beta-amyloid, which is a toxic protein that builds up in the brain leading to Alzheimers disease. Hence food cooked in Olive oil helps to prevent the brain damage and dementia.
In short, all kind of healthy and brain booster food seems to be good to reduce the impact of dementia or decrease the progression of disease. The diet filled with these food items should help to prevent the Alzheimer's disease. However it is always better to take the advise from local physician before introducing such food items. Because some of these food items may interact with your existing health conditions other than Alzheimer's and also existing Alzheimer's medicines.
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