Healthy Eating helps against forgetting

Eating against forgetting: Protects the right diet from Alzheimer's?
The most important risk factor for dementias is age. And we are all getting older. In 2000, the world's population was 420 million older people (65+), and in 2050 it will be 1,300 million. Already 1.2 million people are living with Alzheimer's disease in Germany, and the number is rising. Because the disease of forgetfulness is not yet curable, the question is increasingly focused on how to prevent Alzheimer's disease.

Healthy diet against Alzheimer's. (Image: bit24 / fotolia.com)

Exercise, mental fitness, proper nutrition, social contacts and medical care promote healthy aging and reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease, so much is known today. The influence of nutrition can be explained by Professor dr. Gunter Eckert from the Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen, within the scope of a panel of experts recently organized by the Alzheimer Research Initiative e.V. (AFI) in Frankfurt on the occasion of the World Alzheimer's Day.

"Preventable and nutritionally modifiable risk factors," said Eckert, are: diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, high homocysteine ​​levels and high cholesterol. "In addition, depression, physical inactivity and smoking, and low education are other risk factors.

The more risk factors are permanently reduced, the more the number of preventable Alzheimer's cases increases. Regarding nutrition, the consumption of polyphenols in epidemiological studies shows preventive effects. Polyphenols are typically abundant in Mediterranean cuisine. "The Mediterranean diet is characterized by a high intake of fruits and vegetables, olive oil and nuts, but little red meat and a lot of fish." Fish should be more likely to be fatty sea fish such as salmon, cod or mackerel, as these fish have many long-chain omegas. Contain 3-fatty acids, "said Eckert. Spices, tea and red wine also contain polyphenols.

The positive properties of polyphenols are based in particular on the following molecular mechanisms: there is evidence of better blood flow in the brain (which has deteriorated in old age and dementia), polyphenols counteract inflammation in the brain (increased in old age and dementia) and they improve the function of "cell power plants". The mitochondria do not work properly in old age and Alzheimer's and polyphenols improve energy production.

There is no magic formula to protect against Alzheimer's disease. But a varied Mediterranean cuisine, a lot of active movement in the air, sufficient sleep and stress the brain, but sometimes let the soul, can have a preventive effect. Rüdiger Lobitz, bzfe