From: hounddog23x@gmail.com   
      
   Can Dementia Be Prevented Through Nutrition?   
      
   Amy R. Beaudreault     
      
   Posted: 03/12/15 01:23 PM ET Updated: 03/12/15 01:59 PM ET   
      
   While enjoying a family vacation in Florida, Max Lugavere's mother, known for   
   her ability to recall the slightest detail, couldn't remember the current   
   year. Her family thought she was joking, but the journey that followed was far   
   from a laughing matter.    
   Many years later, Lugavere continues to ask the question: Is there anything   
   that can reduce or slow cognitive decline?   
      
   Recently, Julianne Moore's Academy Award-winning portrayal of a Columbia   
   University linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's   
   disease in Still Alice, brought the issue of dementia to life for moviegoers.   
   In the film, Alice's doctor    
   recommends exercising and drinking water to slow progression of the disease.   
   While exercise is good advice, nowhere during the movie did the role of   
   nutrition arise. Unfortunately, the same holds true for many real-life   
   doctor's visits.   
      
   Despite growing evidence supporting the positive role nutrition plays in   
   dementia prevention, nutrition is rarely employed as a prevention strategy. A   
   new study may change that. The linkages among nutrition and brain function are   
   made clear in the    
   results from a first-ever randomized controlled trial of its kind led by Miia   
   Kivipelto, MD, PhD published today in the Lancet.   
      
   The two-year research study measured the effects on brain function of an   
   intervention -- which included nutritional guidance and management of   
   metabolic risk factors -- for age-related dementia. Using the Ne   
   ropsychological Test Battery (NTB) test,    
   intervention group scores for overall brain function were 25 percent higher.   
   For executive functioning, intervention group scores were 83 percent higher,   
   and processing speed was 150 percent higher.   
      
   Kivipelto will present these impressive findings for the first time during her   
   keynote lecture at a landmark NYC scientific conference on March 26 and 27   
   presented by The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science, the New York Academy   
   of Sciences, Nestlé    
   Nutrition Institute and Nestlé Health Science. Additional lectures will focus   
   on research that supports nutrition as an approach to prevention of   
   age-related diseases. Despite the growing body of literature that nutrition   
   can positively impact brain    
   function, debate surely will ensue between those who believe more clinical   
   trials are necessary before clinicians should start prescribing nutritional   
   changes, in addition to standby pharmaceutical options.   
      
   This includes studies on vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega-3 fatty acids, and   
   phytonutrients, such as those found in cocoa, berries, and nuts, some   
   specifically looking at populations with dementia. Furthermore, certain   
   dietary patterns, such as the    
   Mediterranean diet, may help prevent cognitive decline and dementia.   
      
   Let's consider a few additional facts: The global population is undergoing an   
   extraordinary demographic shift. By the year 2050, the population of those   
   older than 60 is forecasted to double from 841 million to 2 billion. Today,   
   approximately 44 million    
   worldwide live with dementia and by 2050 the estimate will reach 135 million   
   (not to mention the costs--$604 billion USD in 2010 and increasing rapidly).   
   I'm scared, are you?   
      
   One piece of this puzzle I know for sure: Global health needs to widen its   
   scope to include non-pharmaceutical interventions to mitigate dementia's   
   startling future outlook. Instead of treating dementia, science must look at   
   prevention and the power of    
   environmental factors, policy, and behavior change utilizing a health systems   
   approach. Until then, our duty is to be mindful of the long-lasting effects   
   diet has on overall health and well-being at the micro- and macro-levels.   
      
      
   http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6847822   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)