A tad off the subject

[Guest guest]

Folks, I read this in the Wall Street Journal today. It's certainly good news,

but I couldn't help think back to when my folks moved to assisted living centers

(in two separate states; they had been divorced for many years). In both, the

meals so often were heavy on fat and carbohydrates. Mashed potatoes and gravy,

ham, macaroni and cheese, heavy desserts, etc. When they did serve fish it would

inevitably come deep fried! I think we need to nudge those who run assisted

living centers, since they charge the big bucks, to consider the nutritional

needs of our elders (or ourselves, as the case may be). My dad put on so much

weight in assisted living I had to get him all new clothes, lol!

HEALTH JOURNALAUGUST 12, 2009

Dementia Studies Find Diet, Exercise Matter

By CARRIE PORTER

Two studies published in this week's Journal of the American Medical

Association add to evidence that long-term lifestyle habits may reduce

the risk of mental decline in old age.

The first study, a long-term look at 1,880 elderly people in New

York City, found that a Mediterranean-type diet and physical activity

each were linked to less risk for Alzheimer's disease. The Taub

Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at

Columbia University Medical Center released the data as part of a

larger research project on aging.

The second study, a shorter-term observation of 1,410 patients in

France, found some correlation between a Mediterranean-type diet and

slower cognitive damage.

Nikolaos Scarmeas, the author of the first study, grew up eating

fish and vegetables in Athens, Greece. Now the neurologist suggests

more people take up his mother's cooking. Marked by high consumption of

foods such as vegetables, legumes and cereals, served with olive oil,

in addition to moderate fish and alcohol intake, the traditional diet

has long conferred better cardiovascular health.

Starting in 1992, researchers at Columbia University monitored

elderly patients every 18 months for diet, exercise and mental health,

in addition to a number of controls including age, sex and education.

" This is one of the first studies to tease apart the independent

contributions of diet and exercise for dementia prevention, " says

sen, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at

the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who was not involved in the

research. " It suggests that aging need not be a passive process. "

These studies are observational and not definitive, but they hint at

what might reduce the chances of Alzheimer's or dementia. In the

Columbia research, those who adhered most closely to the diet reduced

their risk for Alzheimer's by 40%, while those with the highest

physical activity decreased their risk 33%, compared with people who

didn't adhere closely to the diet or were not physically active.

The French study found that subjects who adhered to the

Mediterranean-type diet experienced a slower rate of mental decline

than those who did not eat the diet, but did not prove a link for

dementia, which requires a clinical assessment of a variety of mental

and social functions.

Doctors in the field are careful to note that none of these findings

demonstrate a causal relationship, but instead reflect the advantages

of a continual healthy lifestyle. " The benefits don't just occur at age

70 when you suddenly stop eating Mc's and start eating Brussels

sprouts, " says Knopman, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in

Rochester, Minn., who wrote the editorial accompanying the studies in

JAMA and wasn't involved in either study. His editorial highlights

confounding variables in the studies. " Healthy diet and exercise is

part of a package of lifelong healthy living. "

Zaven Khachaturian, a senior science adviser to the Alzheimer's

Association, agrees. " This offers interesting insight but we need to

turn it now into clinical trials, " says the former director of the

Office of Alzheimer's Disease Research at the National Institutes of

Health.

These findings arrive a few weeks after new research identified a

gene that could help predict who will develop Alzheimer's—the leading

cause of dementia—and at what age. The report, given in mid-July at the

International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, concentrated on DNA

surrounding the ApoE gene. Researchers say more studies are needed

before the findings can be confirmed.

For now, Dr. Scarmeas says his studies strongly suggest that a

Mediterranean diet and exercise both confer independent and positive

health benefits. But together, they are even better.

" The relative risk reduction for Alzheimer's is about 60% when you combine the

diet and exercise, " he says.

Write to

Porter at carrie.porter@...

_________________________________________________________________

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