JUNE IS ALZHEIMER’S AWARENESS MONTH. With 6.9 million older Americans living with Alzheimer’s dementia, you’d be hard pressed to find a family that does not have a loved one affected by the disease. Yes, Alzheimer’s is a disease in the same sense that cardiovascular disease is a type of heart disease.
Alzheimer’s is caused by damage to nerve cells in the brain, and brain changes are thought to start 20 years before the actual onset of symptoms. Individuals with mild symptoms are still able to drive, work, and participate in their favorite activities, but eventually the nerve cell damage of Alzheimer’s extends to the parts of the brain that enable basic bodily functions such as walking and talking. There is no cure as of yet, but each year over $405 million goes to fund Alzheimer’s research in hopes of finding treatments, preventions, and ultimately a cure.
Can eating well help keep Alzheimer’s at bay? Sadly, there is no magic pill, supplement, or diet to cure or ward off dementia. However, we know for certain that bad lifestyle choices such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, weight gain, poor diet, and limited exercise aren’t good for any disease state, especially dementia. We also know that getting proper nutrition through a well-balanced diet that includes plenty of fruit, vegetables, lean proteins, lowfat dairy, limited refined sugars, low sodium, and low saturated fat is healthy for everyone.
Eating becomes a more significant concern for people with Alzheimer’s as the disease progresses to middle- or late-stage dementia. These individuals are often overwhelmed with too many food choices, forget to eat or drink, or think they’ve already eaten when they haven’t.
Loss of appetite is also a concern. All these factors can lead to weight loss and poor nutrition, which may increase behavioral symptoms. Often, high-calorie supplements are recommended to help counteract these influences.
Staying hydrated is also a problem for people with Alzheimer’s. Individuals with dementia will need to be offered small cups of fluids throughout the day. One way to help them get the fluids they need is to offer fruits with a high water content, soups, milkshakes, and smoothies.
In addition, other problems may arise, such as not recognizing food, trying to eat nonfood items (e.g. dirt), poor fitting dentures or poor dentition, medications that affect appetite, inadequate exercise, and decreased sense of taste and smell. As mentioned earlier, food and eating become more challenging as Alzheimer’s progresses. Here are some tips that can help ensure people with the disease get the nutrition and calories they need at mealtimes:
• Provide a quiet place for meals with limited distractions, keep the table setting simple, and provide only one utensil for feeding.
• Use color, especially red plates and contrasting table cloth and napkins.
• Check food temperatures, as they can’t tell if something is too hot to eat.
• Offer one food at a time, and be flexible with food choices as they may not like foods they used to like in the past.
• Keep in mind that sweets are usually well tolerated. It may sound odd, but adding a sweetener like maple syrup to foods such as spaghetti may be one way to get food, calories, and protein into the person with dementia.
• Allow plenty of time for eating—it can take up to an hour to eat.
• Eat together to keep mealtime social.
• Serve finger foods that are easy to pick up—don’t worry about neatness—and keep foods soft and bite size.
• Be alert for any signs of choking.
• Offer four to six small feedings if three larger meals are difficult to consume.
As for supplements, I’m sure most of you have seen the commercials for Prevagen®, Neuriva®, Brain Support, and Neuro Q®, all claiming to improve cognitive function. According to an nih.gov article ( Nutrients, March 2022), research found that supplementation of B-complex vitamins, especially folic acid taken along with thiamine, may have a positive affect of delaying and preventing cognitive decline. However, multiple risk factors can contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s dementia, so before running out to buy a plethora of B-complex vitamins, I recommend taking a multivitamin with minerals if recommended and approved by your physician.
Proper nutrition is important to keep the body strong and healthy— especially for people with Alzheimer’s, for whom poor nutrition may exacerbate signs and symptoms of the disease. Basic nutrition and the tips provided here can help boost health not only for people with dementia, but also for their caregivers. Just keep in mind that changes in perception, taste, and smell can make eating more difficult as the disease progresses. Try maintaining independence at mealtimes as long as possible, but be aware that help is often needed to keep people with dementia safe and nourished.
Help is available, and all the information for this article is from www.alz.org along with my personal experience with my mother who passed away from Alzheimer’s in December of 2022.
Laurie A. Syring, RDN/LD, is Clinical Nutrition Manager at ProMedica Flower Hospital. ✲
