Health Articles

Alzheimer’s dementia is an irreversible brain disorder that typically develops in the elderly. It leads to memory loss, personality changes, and a general decline in cognitive function.

Recent studies conducted in the United States have revealed that just as in heart disease, strokes, and vascular dementia, Alzheimer’s disease is the end result of nutritional inadequacy earlier in life. Patients with Alzheimer’s, compared with controls, showed deficiencies of multiple vitamins, especially the antioxidants found in vegetables and fruits. Green vegetable consumption was low and animal fat consumption was high in the past histories of Alzheimer’s patients. We pay a steep price for our extravagant diet, rich in meat and dairy and low in the foods ideally adapted to our primate heritage—natural vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and beans. Unfortunately, natural foods are shunned in the modern world, and Americans eat less than 4 percent of their total calories from vegetables and fresh fruit.

Oxidative stress to our brain tissue from the combination of a diet rich in saturated fat and low in the antioxidants and phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables lays the groundwork for brain damage later in life. Inadequate intake of omega-3 fatty acids found in flax and hemp seeds, walnuts, leafy greens, and certain fish also are implicated in the etiology of Alzheimer’s.

The aluminum present in processed foods also may play a role in accelerating the development of Alzheimer’s. Cookies, cakes, cold cereals, and pancakes are all high in aluminum. Fortunately, when you eat a diet low in processed foods and rich in vegetables, beans, fresh fruit, and nuts and seeds, you dramatically decrease your dietary exposure to aluminum and increase the level of antioxidant compounds in your brain.