To Help Ward Off Alzheimer’s, Think Before You Eat

The field of nutrition is changing drastically now with diets designed to boost brain health, targeted mostly towards older adults. Scientists from Toronto, Rush University Medical Center and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health published the Canadian Brain Health Food Guide and the MiND Diet, both of which suggest certain nutrients – mostly found in plants, grains, beans, nuts, vegetable oils and fish – protect cells in the brain while fighting inflammation and oxidation.

While neither study is a proved fact yet, both have yielded promising results in observational studies. The Canadian study resulted in a 36 percent drop in the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease while the Rush/Harvard study lowered Alzheimer’s risk by 53 percent. Both are now being subject to further and more rigorous clinical trials this year.

The MiND diet calls for two servings of vegetables and three servings of whole grains per day and fix half-cup portions of berries per week. It also recommends one serving of fish or seafood per week.

The Canadian study calls for five servings of vegetables and four servings of fruit per day and does not make any recommendations for whole grains. However, it suggests that three servings of fish or seafood be consumer per week.

Both diets concur that sweets, pastries, butter, red meat, and fried and processed foods should be avoided.

It’s not sure what this means for the brains of older adults, because more studies need to be complete, but it is proved that a poor diet can increase the risks of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity and diabetes.