A PROMPT analysis of the study by Riviere et al (2001) that examined whether a nutritional education program could prevent weight loss in patients with Alzheimers disease found the information clearly presented in a standard format for empirical studies. The language is unbiased, specific, not overly technical and easily understood by a person with a scientific background. The authors had no obvious conflicts of interest and were sponsored by the European Health Promotion Program, a non-commercial organisation.
However, the scope of the study was small: only 151 subjects were studied for 12 months. This may be too small a cohort and too short a time to draw any significant conclusions. Also, the study group was from southern Europe which has many different dietary and environmental factors to the UK making direct comparisons problematic.
An evaluation of the experimental design showed that despite the concerns expressed above the study has external validity. The cohort of patients studied is similar to the general population of people with Alzheimer’s disease in the UK: living in the community with an informal caregiver as the primary carer. The results are reliable as they measured recognised and duplicable outcomes such as the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE), Activity of Daily Living (ADL) and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scales, the Cornel scale, and the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI).
Despite providing information useful to the question posed the experiment was designed with a primary outcome of assessing whether weight loss could be prevented by a nutritional education program, not the prevention or slowing of the progression of Alzheimer’s. However the auth...
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... groups were in effect matched. A follow up of the HC cohort at 18 months also showed that MeDi adherence was significantly correlated with reduced cognitive decline as measured by the MMSE.
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Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that affects cognitive function in the elderly population. It is an irreversible, progressive disease involving decline in memory and other intellectual abilities (Spremo-Potparevic, Živkovic, Plecas-Solarovic & Bajic, 2011). According to the National Institute of Health, the majority of people who have Alzheimer’s are age 65 and older (NIH, 2012). Around two-thirds of Americans who have Alzheimer’s are women. The reason for this may be that women have a longer lifespan than men (NIH, 2012).
...(2012) Alzheimer's Society Dementia A national challenge. Report. Available from: http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/download_info.php?fileID=1389 [Accessed 3 February 2014]
of diagnosis is about 80 years old (Johnson, 1989). The incidence is about the same for all races, but women are more likely than men to develop the disease, because they live longer. The second factor is heredity. Family history plays a role in about forty percent of people with early onset of Alzheimer’s (Johnson, 1989). If your parents or a sibling developed the disease, you are more likely to, as well. But there are cases of families with several people who have had this disease and other members are not affected. These two factors are the only proven factors, but environmental research is being done to help with a possible protective effect for the disease. As of now, more research is needed to confirm any be...
Alzheimer’s disease was first postulated by the Bavarian psychiatrist by the name of Alois Alzheimer in 1906, however very little was known about the illness (Selkoe). Today, it is well documented that Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of the mental disorder known as dementia. Furthermore, dementia affects an estimated 25 million people in the world (Dalvi). The National Institute of Aging, under the purview of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines Alzheimer’s disease as “an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the ability to carry out the simplest tasks.” Alzheimer’s disease, like most diseases, has levels of severity and get worse of the course of time. In early or “mild” stage of Alzheimer’s disease, the person might start exhibiting issues that could include “wandering and getting lost, trouble handling money and paying bills, repeating questions, taking...
"Alzheimer’s & Dementia Prevention." : How to Reduce Your Risk and Protect Your Brain. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2014.
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most prevalent diseases in America and in the world at this point in time and the number of cases is only increasing. Symptoms of Alzheimer’s might include a decline in mental capacity, confusion, and forgetting how to do simple tasks. The disease in not limited to the older generation but is far more prevalent. There is no existing cure for Alzheimer’s and only a few medications that can mildly treat the disease but they vary from patient to patient and are not very affective. Many people are now trying to focus on preventing the disease in its early stages. Some ways in which people do this is by pairing a healthy diet with both cognitive and physical exercises.
Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States(1). Alzheimer's has no cure or any way of preventing it from occurring. Life expectancy continues to grow due to improvements in medicine, and so Alzheimer's Disease will continue to be a problem in the elderly. Looking at figure 1(3), it shows that from the year 2000, cases of Alzheimer's disease are estimated to double by the year 2040, which is most likely due to the fact that medicine will continue to improve. Despite not knowing the causes of Alzheimer’s, there have been studies(2 and 7) showing that high cholesterol or high blood pressure can increase the risk...
Cummings, Jeffrey L., Cole, Greg. “Alzheimer Disease.” Journal of the American Medical Association. May 2002: 287-18. Health Source. EBSCOhost. Utica College Lib. 15 Apr 2005. .
In recent years, research has established that there is a growing prevalence of dementia among people aged 65 years and above. A study by Prince, Prina and Guerchet (2013), established that the global prevalence of dementia has been increasing at a rate of 7%, especially among the adults who were aged over 60 years old. Research has also shown that a great number of the minority communities especially those of immigrants are having a high incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Similarly, high incidence has also been seen in Caucasian people. In this same study, Native Americans showed to have lower rates of the Alzheimer disease compared to the whites (Anderson & Egge, 2014).
Twenty-eight individuals agreed to participate in this longitudinal clinical pathological study of gaining in Alzheimer’s disease. They agreed to annual clinical evaluations as well as to donate their brain to the research once they had died. The average age of the participants was 85 and the range was from 66 to 103. The annual clinical evaluation was to assess what group the participant belonged to. Obviously there was a specific criterion to check for if a person fell under the early Alzheimer’s category. There was no official criterion for those with mild cognitive impairment so those who fell under that category w...
Alzheimer’s disease is a disease which hits close to home for many families including my own. My grandmother was diagnosed with the disease at the age of 64. After battling with Alzheimer’s for over 15 years and watching her mind and body deteriorate, she finally succumbed to the effects of it in 2015. This journey is never an easy one for any family to go through. The caregivers and family members all undergo this massive lifestyle changes. Physical, psychological, emotional, social, and economic changes occur in the life of the caregiver and patient. Along this journey, many disciplines will be researched. Becoming more knowledgeable of the cost and effect this
Beck, A. M., Damkjær, K., & Beyer, N. (2008). Multifaceted nutritional intervention among nursing-home residents has a positive influence on nutrition and function. Nutrition, 24(11-12), 1073-1080. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2008.05.007
Dementia is a term that covers more than 100 diseases that have similar effects on the person (The Department of Health 2014). The symptoms shown are known to affect the proper functioning of the brain, thought, behaviour, bodily actions that are required for daily tasks and one’s normal social and working life (Fight Dementia 2012). Dementia is becoming more prevalent in Australia and globally. With factors such as increased life expectancy having an effect on the brain and nervous system that is still not something that modern medicine can control the degradation of. “While not a consequence of ageing, the prevalence of dementia is increasing as people live longer and the proportion of older people in the population rises” (Hartwell 2014, p. 134). There have been many people researching different factors in one’s lifestyle that can help decrease the chance of developing a form of dementia at or even postpone it until a later age. Even if someone is genetically prone to getting dementia, or is a part of an ethnic group with a high prevalence with dementia, for example Australian Aboriginals, factors such as nutrition, diet, exercise and new medical treatments may help them.
Turner, J. (2011). Your brain on food: A nutrient-rich diet can protect cognitive health. Generations, 35(2), 99-106.