Defining Dementia
Many people wonder whether mislaying the keys or blanking on the names of acquaintances at cocktail parties telegraph an insidious downslide into dementia. Taken alone, minor episodes of forgetfulness are normal. People with dementia don’t just forget a friend’s name, but much of their shared history. It becomes difficult to interact with other people, think abstractly, solve problems, speak, write, and comprehend printed and spoken words. This chronic, progressive condition can eventually erode the ability to perform simple tasks as basic as getting dressed in the morning.There are more than 60 types of dementia. The most common type is Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which afflicts more than 35 million people worldwide and 5.5 million Americans. This is followed by vascular dementia (also called multi-infarct dementia) and Parkinson’s disease (a disease that impairs muscle control).
Unfortunately, dementia lacks a cure. Drugs such as Aricept and Namenda can produce modest improvements, but do not stop the course of the disease.
Drinking green tea (Camellia sinensis) can help reduce your risk for both dementia and cardiovascular disease.
Reducing Risks
Research has yet to prove that changing one’s lifestyle reduces the risk of dementia. However, several strategies have at least preliminary support.Diet matters. What you eat influences the composition of your brain; provides nutrients that protect against oxidative stress and inflammation; contributes raw materials to make neurotransmitters; and keeps the arteries to the brain healthy. Whereas diets high in saturated fat (which comes mainly from meat and dairy) increase dementia risk, those replete with vegetables and fish lower it. The Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts and olive oil, seems to protect against AD and slow the rate of age-related cognitive decline.
The type of fish consumed may be important. People who eat cold-water fish, which is rich in the brain-friendly fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), reduce their dementia risk. Fatty fish is also a food source of vitamin D, which promotes good brain function and nerve protection. Many Americans have insufficient blood levels of this vitamin, and low levels correlate with dementia.
Stay active. In an exciting new study of 120 older adults, an aerobic training program increased the size of the hippocampus (a brain region that shrinks some with advancing age and more dramatically in AD) and improved spatial memory. Earlier research has supported the notion that physical exercise promotes brain health.
Use it or lose it. Higher educational attainment, spending more time on intellectual activities and working are associated with a reduced probability of AD. Perhaps people build their brain reserves and can lose more neurons before impairment shows. Or perhaps people continue solving Sudoku puzzles because they don’t have dementia. Nevertheless, some research shows that memory exercises and less-structured intellectual pursuits can yield benefits for healthy older adults and those beginning to lose their mental edge.
Your best bets to maintain your brain are to eat a plant-based diet rich in berries, red grapes and curried food, drink green tea, regularly participate in an exercise that makes you smile and that you can do with friends, take time to relax, and keep learning. If you’ve entered the autumn of your life, should you take any herbs? Research hasn’t answered that question. In the meantime, Dr. Jerry Cott and I are both taking our daily doses of bacopa and ginkgo.
