dementia and diet

Alie

When my DH was first diagnosed we started following the Mind Diet by Maggie Moon.  It seems pretty nutritionally sound to me.   A friend just gave me a copy of Dale Bredesen MD's book : The End of Alzheimer's The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline.  I plan to talk to his Dr the next time we go, but I'd like to know if anyone here has tried it or has any opinions on it.  I'm not so sure about some of the dietary advice.  Are there other resources you use for dietary info? My DH is still eating very well; my concern at this point is a healthy diet.

loveskitties

The sad truth is that if, as the book's title suggests, it were possible to reverse cognitive decline with diet...it would make world news and be what everyone with a LO with any form of dementia is doing.

Talking to LO's doctor about it is a good choice.

Rescue mom

A healthy diet is good for everybody, including people with dementia. But, as loveskitties said,  if diet could actually prevent or reverse dementia, everybody here and elsewhere would be doing it, and these books and authors would be internationally lauded super-heros.

Otterly

Early on (March 2020) we joined the Brederson Protocol. (APollo Heath)  I have read  his books, I agree with his conclusions. There is indeed a cure for Alzeimers, but it is not a silver bullet, it is a protocal combining, diet, elimination of carbs and alcohol, some supplements, and  excersise of brain and body. My wife was not convinced and would not follow the protocol. Now one year later things have progressed with her  EO and I am trying to get her back on the protocol.

Larrytherunner

Dr Bredesen published the research for his treatment protocol in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinsonism, which is another fake journal run by OMICS Publishing Group. OMICS, the publisher of his study, is headquartered in Hyderabad, India, and was sued by the Federal Trade Commission in 2016 for deceiving academics and researchers, falsifying information in clinical trial papers and hiding publication fees. This company will publish just about anything for the right price.

Dr Bredesen has transitioned from a medical researcher to a businessman, marketing his products with many unproven claims to maximise his profits.

My advice is that if you want to follow his guidelines, do those things that you can do by yourself, like exercise, getting enough sleep, following the Mediterranean or similar diet, and forget about joining his program, where you will pay for a lot of doctors visits and unnecessary lab fees and waste a lot of money. 

OMICS Publishing Group - Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMICS_Publishing_Group 

https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/reversal-of-cognitive-decline-100-patients-2161-0460-1000450.pdf

Ed1937

If I'm not mistaken, we had a thread on this 2 or 3 years ago. Not one person claims that they have had success with it. Save your money.

T. Slothrop

Alie, when my DW (71 now) was first diagnosed 3+ years ago, we read the Bredesen book and found a doctor who practices the protocol.  But it was not successful, and I wish I had saved the money. I found Bredesen persuasive; I don’t doubt that there are many factors (“many holes in a leaky roof, and even if you fix most of them, the roof still leaks”) that contribute to AD. But diet is also only one factor; and even if changing her diet so thoroughly were possible (it was not), the other factors (in her case, genetic profile) dominate. Diet and supplements were just distracting, expensive and uncomfortable, and I ended up feeling like I had been preyed on by a mountebank.

Stuck in the middle

T. Slothrop wrote:

 I ended up feeling like I had been preyed on by a mountebank.

You had.  We have one Dr. B's disciples here (they pay Dr. B. tens of thousands to take his course).  $38 for a bottle of anchovy oil capsules, that Walgreen sells for $13.

Rohambekaj

I completely agree that diet plays a vital role in our overall health, and it's especially important for individuals dealing with a diagnosis like dementia. However, it's also important to be cautious of claims made by certain individuals or companies, as the medical industry can be rife with misinformation and scams. I've recently discovered some interesting facts about healthy eating habits in this article about diet. It could be a useful resource for anyone looking to improve their overall health, whether they need to battle cognitive decline or not. It provides helpful tips for making positive dietary changes.

Lane Simonian

After awhile it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: there are no effective treatments because if there were we would have heard about them; if someone claims to have an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease they are selling snake oil because if there were an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease we would have heard about them.  Few people know or try the proposed treatments, so we never hear about them. 

A Mediterranean diet can help reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and slow down its progression.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16622828/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2673956/

To a certain extent, Bredesen tried to over-complicate the treatment of Alzheimer's by conducting expensive tests to try to identify one or more of the various triggers for the disease in each individual, and by removing those causes where possible.  He also suggested a variety of treatments including a few, relatively ineffective antioxidants.  But diets high in antioxidants and certain herbal antioxidant treatments help no matter what the cause (or likely causes) of the disease are in individual cases (although addressing specific causes can also help earlier on).

At least three studies, one using panax ginseng, one using Chinese herbs in conjunction with, and the drug candidate blarcamesine suggest that mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's disease can be nearly stabilized for two to three years.  

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5729264/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3659550/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7167374/

For moderate Alzheimer's disease, blarcamesine was not effective and Chinese herbs plus conventional therapy was much less effective after a year.

The use of essential oils via aromatherapy more or less stabilized my mother's Alzheimer's disease for five years.  There are no cures for Alzheimer's disease, but there are likely treatments that can keep a substantial number of people from having to be placed in institutions with a relatively decent quality of life.