DEMENTIA PREVENTION SHOULD START AT MIDLIFE. The time to start is in your 40’s. 

The link between brain health and nutrition is irrefutable. As a Long Island dietitian, I have spent my career working to help patients improve their wellness through individualized dietary interventions, and this includes providing evidence-based nutrition therapy to help delay, and even prevent, dementia.

If you wait until brain changes occur, you have missed your opportunity.  Early intervention to improve brain health might help people stay sharper in their later years, researchers say. “Middle age is an opportune time to make lifestyle choices and obtain treatment that will bring an enormous return on investment in old age,” says Terrie Moffitt, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University.

How can you protect your brain from dementia?

Brain health and vascular health are interconnected.  What occurs below the neck also occurs above the neck. Manage your cardiometabolic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol) and select a healthful food plan.

Are you doing what you need to do to prevent future brain decline?

Examine your lifestyle:

• Adequate sleep
• Physical activity
• Weight:  attaining your optimal weight on a healthy diet can’t start early enough
• Diet

What is the best diet to avoid dementia?

A Real Food, Plant Based, Flexitarian Plan.

Examples are a Mediterranean Plan or the MIND Plan:

The Mediterranean diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans/legumes, whole grains, olive oil, and seafood, with moderate amounts of animal protein such as dairy, eggs, and poultry.  Saturated fat, trans fats, and ultra-processed foods are limited.

The MIND (Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet combines elements of the Mediterranean and DASH diets. Research suggests that managing and lowering high blood pressure may decrease the risk of dementia. Like the Mediterranean diet, the MIND diet is plant based and includes foods such as vegetables, nuts, beans, and berries, along with fish, poultry, and olive oil.  Saturated, trans fats, and ultra-processed foods are also limited.

Avoid a Western Style plan that consists of a higher consumption of saturated, trans, and total fat as well as red meat, and ultra-processed foods.

Select protective foods that consist of green leafy vegetables, colorful fruits, legumes, nuts, omega-3 fatty acids, and whole grains.

There is strong evidence, from the  Framingham Heart Study, that diet and healthy nutrients can reduce aging and protect against dementia.

Bottom line:  People who eat healthier diets are less likely to develop dementia.

 

Additional Resources:

Thomas A, Ryan CP, Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Sugden K, Zhou J, Belsky DW, Gu Y. Diet, pace of biological aging, and risk of dementia in the Framingham Heart Study.

Wall Street Journal, What Middle-Aged People Can Do Now to Help Prevent Dementia Later

Kurowska A, Ziemichód W, Herbet M, Piątkowska-Chmiel I. The Role of Diet as a Modulator of the Inflammatory Process in the Neurological Diseases. Nutrients. 2023

Grant WB, Blake SM. Diet’s Role in Modifying Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease: History and Present Understanding. J Alzheimers Dis. 2023;96(4):1353