Nutrition and brain health
The mind-gut connection and defending against dementia.
YOUR GUT not only affects how your body feels, but may also affect your mood, how you think and even behave. Treating imbalances in the gut has not only shown promise for resolving inflammation, fatigue, allergies, autoimmune diseases, obesity and metabolic diseases but also brain-related disorders.
Research is increasingly implicating gut health in brain-related disorders from depression, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson’s disease, to dementia, and helps explain why the gut is often referred to as the “second brain”.
Dietary changes and a healthy lifestyle can help delay the onset of age-related cognitive decline, and even reduce the risk of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) according to recent research (1).
As the most common form of dementia, AD is characterised by symptoms including memory loss, difficulty with information processing and routine tasks, deterioration of social skills and progressive physical decline (2, 3). The cause(s) of AD remains unclear and as the disease destroys brain cells it ultimately takes people’s lives.
In Australia dementia is currently the second leading cause of death (4), as around 244 additional people per day are joining the number of people with dementia (2). As the population ages, the burden of dementia is expected to rise, and by 2025 the number of people living with dementia and AD in Australia is expected to increase to over 536,000 (2,3).
At present there is no pharmacological therapy to cure or prevent AD (1,2). However, current research shows positive results for nutritional and lifestyle modifications that might help delay the onset or even prevent AD (3). In addition to the urgent need to find treatment for dementia, early intervention and adherence to healthy lifestyle habits is the key to the preservation of brain health across the lifespan and to prevent and slow age-related cognitive decline.
Healthy lifestyle habits to defend against Alzheimer’s disease.
Eat a healthy diet. Recent research has found that even partial adherence to a healthy diet such as the Mediterranean diet can help prevent and may delay the onset of AD (5). The Mediterranean diet includes mostly fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, legumes and fish with moderate amounts of poultry, eggs and dairy and small amounts of red meat and alcohol.
Exercise. There is good evidence that 30 minutes of moderately vigorous aerobic exercise 3-4 days per week helps prevent, and slow the progression of AD (3).
Sleep. There is growing evidence that good quality sleep can help prevent AD by aiding the clearing out of damaging amyloid plaque from the brain cells. Aim for 7-8 hours sleep per night (3).
It is worth remembering that adherence to a healthy diet and lifestyle will also help reduce the risk of other health problems and chronic diseases including hypertension, insulin resistance, metabolic disorders, Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
There are many factors that influence individual food and lifestyle choices. Everyone is different, and changing eating habits requires individualised and personalised support and attention.
References
1. Walters, M., Hackett, K., Caesar, E. et al. Role of Nutrition to Promote Healthy Brain Aging and Reduce Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. Curr Nutr Rep 2017: 6: 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13668-017-0199-5. Accessed August 22, 2017.
2. Alzheimer’s Australia. Key facts and statistics 2017. https://www.fightdementia.org.au/statistics
Accessed August 22, 2017.
3. Harvard Health Publications, January 2017. https://www.health.harvard.edu/alzheimers-and-dementia/what-can-you-do-to-avoid-alzheimers-disease. Accessed August 22, 2017.
4. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2015) Causes of Death, Australia, 2015 (cat. no. 3303.0). Accessed August 22, 2017.
5. Hardman RJ, Kennedy G, Macpherson H, Scholey AB, Pipingas A. Adherence to a Mediterranean-Style Diet and Effects on Cognition in Adults: A Qualitative Evaluation and Systematic Review of Longitudinal and Prospective Trials. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2016;3:22. doi:10.3389/fnut.2016.00022.