Following a Heart-Healthy Diet
In order to reduce the chances for a
dementia, you should follow a heart-healthy diet. This means a diet that's low in fat,
cholesterol, and salt, and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fiber. It doesn't mean that you can never have pizza or ice cream again. Experts point out that eating
heart-healthy foods should be the routine. That way, when you have high-fat food every now and then, you're still on track. Making a high-fat diet the routine is asking for trouble.
A heart-healthy diet includes the following:
- 8 to 10 percent of the day's total calories from saturated fat.
- 30 percent or less of the day's total calories from fat.
- Less than 300 milligrams of dietary cholesterol a day.
- A sodium intake of 2,400 milligrams a day.
- Just enough calories to achieve or maintain a healthy weight and reduce your blood cholesterol level. (Ask your doctor or registered dietitian about what might be a reasonable calorie level for you.)
Formal Education and Dementia Prevention
Researchers have found evidence that formal education may help protect people against the effects of
Alzheimer's disease. In one study, researchers found that people with more years of formal education had relatively less mental decline than people with less schooling, regardless of the number of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles each person had in his or her brain. Researchers think that education may cause the brain to develop robust nerve cell networks that can help compensate for the cell damage caused by
Alzheimer's disease.
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