Gut Health

Lgb35

I am curious if anyone has researched impact of gut health on cognition or has anyone tried a diet that has shown any benefits

wizmo

DW diagnosed at 52 tried a variety of alternative treatments - mainly around the Bredesen protocol but included a long list of possible contributing factors. One of them was gut health. She received both Rx and herbal treatments to correct an imbalance, and some ongoing fiber+probiotics for maintenance. I cannot say any one thing made a difference. Overall the combination of optimizing measurable factors and staying physically very active I believe slowed her decline in early stages. It could not halt progression and 7 years later we are now firmly in stage 6. You have little to lose by trying, just don’t expect a miracle cure.

Mollykazoo

Hello.

We have not researched this extensively, but my husband is 55 with early-onset and in early January he and I began eating an entirely vegan diet. We chose to do this based on things I've read about research that has linked plant-based diets to reduced risk for onset of Alzheimer's. Since, in our case, onset has already occurred we are hopeful that this approach might slow things down—but honestly, WHO KNOWS.

In addition to this, my husband is active (exercise/weight training 4-5 days/week) and has always been in very good health physically. We were already pretty healthy eaters, but this new diet was still a big change.

Hard to say if it's made a difference or not. I do see that the disease is progressing—his memory is worse. But, maybe things would be worse without this diet (shrug)?? Regardless, our poops are more regular, so THAT'S a bonus! :)

Iris L.

Read larrytherunner's posts, also read about aromatherapy from Lane Simonian.

Iris

MN Chickadee

As with everything related to gut health, there probably isn't enough research on it. It seems the medical community knows there is a gut-brain axis and most acknowledge a potentially significant and intrinsic relationship between the two, but few understand it enough yet to actually affect care and outcomes on a large scale. I'd be surprised if a diet did anything once a person has dementia, but I could believe gut health might play a role in preventing it from starting in the first place. We also don't understand how the immune system plays a role in dementia, and gut health has a big role in the immune system. Malbsorption can cause big problems in immune response, and people with gut diseases like irritable bowel, Crohn's, and Celiac are more at risk for autoimmune diseases that affect other parts of the body. Many experts say best practices for managing dementia include eating the Mediterranean diet, but it's not really going to affect cognition, just general health. A PWD who has a healthy body is going to do better overall and have a higher quality of life. Of course good circulation and the other benefits of a healthy diet such as Mediterranean along with exercise, good sleep etc. can only help the overall picture and possibly slow progression but it wouldn't reverse the effects of dementia.