Alzheimer's & Diet | Dr Neal Barnard MD

Doctors look for 5 things when determining if someone has the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

– Can you learn and remember?
– Can you reason things out and solve problems?
– Visual, spatial ability – can you recognize shapes (if I asked you to draw a clock, can you get the numbers in order)
– Language
– Personality

If all 5 of these things are not performing as they should, then doctors will suspect that this is the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease.

If one parent gives you the “APOE epsilon-4 Allele gene” you have 3x risk of getting Alzheimer’s.

If you get the gene from both parents you have 10 – 15x the risk.

But this does not have to determine your fate. There is a lot you can do!

Back in 1993, a study began from the Chicago Health and Ageing Project – They brought in a group of 1000’s of healthy people and they carefully tracked what they were eating and they observed the group over many years. They studied links between what they had been eating and their cognitive impairment over time.

The first thing they tracked was consumption of Saturated Fats found in products like meats, butter, and dairy products.

Some people consumed relatively little saturated fat – around 13 grams per day, others had 25 grams.

Through this study, they discovered that the people that consumed 25 grams of Saturated fats per day had 3 times the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease to people that consumed only 4 grams or less per day.
The consumption of Trans fats was also analyzed during the study. Trans Fats are the fats found in things like donuts, cakes, and other snack foods.

It was found that people who consumed over 4 grams of Trans fats per day had a significantly increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

When these results were discovered and measured in consideration with people who carried the high risk “APOE epsilon-4 Allele gene.” It was determined that the group with the gene who avoided the Saturated & Trans Fats had a dramatic difference in risk of developing Alzheimer’s in later life. And the group with the gene who consumed Saturated & Trans Fats on a daily basis were almost destined for the disease.

Dr. Neal Barnard MD a clinical researcher and president for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine explains his top 3 steps for using Power Foods for the Brain in the video below.