Dementia and Nutrition

Abstract

Introduction. Annually there are about 8 million newly diagnosed cases of dementia, an enigmatic and unpredictable brain disease that damages memory, visual perception, reasoning, communication skills and the ability to focus. For lack of an efficient treatment and with the aging of the population, the number of patients will reach 135 million by 2050, statistics that forces us to set prevention as an urgent priority. Nutrition is still an almost neglected area of focus in relation to this global health priority. Materials and methods. Meta-analysis of scientific information published in specialized periodicals. Medline and the Cochrane databases were searched up to September 2016 for additional, recently published studies. We provide an overview on the complex interrelationships among diet, nutrition, cognitive decline, and dementia by a systematic search in PubMed and Scopus. Results. Many researchers are now converging on the idea that it is a degenerative disease that develops largely due to the long-term consequence of faulty nutrition and exposure to anti-nutrients, plus certain negative lifestyle factors, much like cardiovascular disease, and that any long-term solution must involve fundamental changes to a person's diet. It is widely accepted that an unhealthy diet over an entire life span is a major cause of many chronic diseases of Western civilization. Avoiding foods that induce memory loss and eating more of the foods that boost memory (e.g. omega-3 fats, antioxidants, vitamin E, vitamin C and flavonoids rich foods) improves your chances of enjoying all-around health. Conclusions. Research has shown that a poor diet impacts memory and increases a person's chances of developing dementia. So, dementia prevention is an urgent priority, both to reduce incidence and slow the progression of the condition.