Alzheimers disease

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects affects about 5 percent of elderly people in modern society, including many of those in nursing homes. It is also increasingly found in people under 65.
Memory loss and senility, its principal features, are associated in Far Eastern medicine with more expansive, dispersing foods, especially sugar, sweets, alcohol, and drugs.
Physiologically, Alzheimer’s bears similarity to the human variant of mad cow disease (but is not contagious), so that animal food consumption, especially low quality beef or chicken (grown with antibiotics and other chemicals) may also be a factor in its spread.
Medical studies have recently reported that nutrients found in whole grains and vegetables may help control the symptoms of this degenerative neurological disorder. See Fluoridation, Soy Foods, Water, Women’s Health. .

• Folic Acid May Prevent Alzheimer’s - Folic acid, found in many green vegetables, may protect millions of people from Alzheimer's disease. Helga Refsum, a researcher at Norway's Bergen University, said, "The idea of reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease by diet is a promising hypothesis." A study of 76 Alzheimer's patients in the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Aging (OPTIMA) at Oxford University found elevated high levels of homocysteine, an amino acid associated with higher risk of heart disease and stroke, and lower levels of folic acid and vitamin B-12 compared to a control group of 108 people the same age who did not have Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is the fourth leading cause of death in the Western world.
Source: "Scientists Probe Link Between Diet and Alzheimer's," Reuters News Service, April 26, 1998.

• Fat Linked to Alzheimer’s - In a review of Alzheimer prevalence in 11 countries, a researcher reported that incidence of this form of dementia was associated with consumption of foods high in fat (including meat, eggs, poultry, etc.) and in total caloric intake. Fish consumption, on the other hand reduced the risk of developing AD. The researcher found that the diet just prior to the development of the disease is the most critical in determining the risk for developing AD. "Diets high in total calories including acidic drinks, alcohol, fat, salt and sugars promote trace mineral imbalances and elevated free radical production in the body. Several dietary components and supplements have been found effective in delaying the onset of AD, including antioxidants, estrogen (for post-menopausal women), fish or fish oil, and anti-inflammatory substances," the researcher concluded.
Source: Willaim B. Grant, Ph.D., "Dietary Links to Alzheimer's Disease," Alzheimer's Disease Review 2:42-55, 1997.

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