Alzheimer’s Prevention Diet

 

·       15 easy dietary changes that may reduce your risk of Alzheimer's

Do you want to keep your brain healthy in the long run? Here are the top ten foods to consume (plus five to avoid).

Have you did hear of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) or Mediterranean diets? A combination of the two dietary regimens may be the greatest way to safeguard your brain health.

The "MIND" diet, which stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, emphasizes natural plant-based meals while restricting red meat, saturated fat, and sugar consumption. According to observational studies, the diet can lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease by up to 53%, as well as slow cognitive decline and improve verbal memory.

The diet was created by looking at the Mediterranean and DASH diets, then focused on the foods that had the most convincing dementia prevention findings. Vegetables, particularly leafy greens, ranked first. The fruit didn't make the cut in general, though berries did.

Then, for an average of 4.5 years, researchers examined detailed eating logs in an older adult population to find trends in the diets of individuals who got dementia versus those who did not. The researchers discovered that older folks whose diets followed the MIND diet pattern had brains as bright as people 7.5 years younger.

That's a big difference, considering that postponing dementia by only five years may halve the cost and prevalence of the condition.

Do you want to see how your diet compares to others? Give yourself a point for each of the MIND diet principles you follow on a regular basis (up to a max of 15 points).

·       Every day, eat at least three servings of whole grains.

·       At least six times a week, eat green leafy vegetables (such as salad).

·       at least once a day, other vegetables

·       At least twice a week, berries

·       Red meat should be consumed no more than four times per week.

·       At least once a week, eat fish

·       Poultry should be cooked at least twice a week.

·       Beans at least three times each week

·       At least five times a week, nuts

·       Once a week or fewer, eat fried or fast food

·       For cooking, olive oil is primarily used.

·       Every day, use less than a spoonful of butter or margarine.

·       A week's worth of cheese is less than a serving

·       A maximum of five pastries or desserts each week

·       One glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage each day is recommended.

While both the MIND and Mediterranean diets reduce Alzheimer's risk in the same way, The MIND diet is more flexible, which may make it easier for certain Americans to follow. The Mediterranean diet, for example, suggests eating fish several times per week, which might be difficult.

Another intriguing point to remember is that you don't need to eat a perfect diet to reap the benefits. While the adults in the trial who followed the diet the most rigorously (an average score of 9.6 out of 15) showed the greatest reduction in their risk of Alzheimer's, those who scored in the middle (7.5 points) still saw a reduction of almost a third in their risk. To enhance your score — and your brain health — try focusing on only one or two of the practices listed above.