Lipid-based diets effectively combat Alzheimer's disease in mouse model

Lipid-based diets effectively combat Alzheimer's disease in mouse model

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is the most common disease underlying memory problems and dementia in the elderly. One of the invariable pathologies in AD is degeneration of cholinergic synapses in brain cortex and hippocampus. Despite enormous effort to find out an efficient treatment, current pharmacological interventions are limited to a few drugs that alleviate symptoms but do not slow down the underlying disease processes. These drugs include inhibitors of cholinesterases, enzymes that degrade the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, or memantine, a modulator of glutamate neurotransmission.

It is generally accepted that lifestyle and particularly dietary habits influence mental health, and prevalence and progression of AD. Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed profitable effects of dietary intake of especially fish oil on cognitive decline during aging and dementia.

Within the EU-funded project LipiDiDiet (FP7-211696, therapeutic and preventive impact of nutritional lipids on neuronal and cognitive performance in aging, Alzheimer´s disease and vascular dementia, researchers devised several lipid-based diets aimed at slowing down progression and relieving symptoms of AD. Short-term (3 weeks) feeding of young adult APPswe/PS1dE9 mice (transgenic mouse model of AD) with experimental diets containing fish oil or stigmasterol reversed the decrease in responsiveness of hippocampal muscarinic receptors to acetylcholine compared to their non-transgenic littermates. Only fish oil based diet enriched with nutrients supporting neuroprotection (Fortasyn diet) increased in addition the density of muscarinic receptors and cholinergic synapses in the hippocampus.

These findings yield important proof-of-principle evidence that regular intake of specific dietary components may help to prevent some of the key early functional changes that take place in the Alzheimer brain. These findings support viability of the dietary approach in AD.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-02/bsp-lde021016.php

sorry Yoly, is this basically saying, eat fish?

Re: Alzheimer's ...

" It is generally accepted that lifestyle and particularly dietary habits influence mental health, and prevalence and progression of AD. Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed profitable effects of dietary intake of especially fish oil on cognitive decline during aging and dementia. "

These words above from the study Yoly posted ...

"Combining non-drug therapies doesn’t raise risks:
This however is not a problem that happens with non-drug prevention approaches – exercise, diet, B vitamins and omega 3 and the like. In fact a combination is highly likely to be more effective than any single change. Better diet and more exercise combined do not generate side effects.

But we are not going to find out what improvements such combinations could produce while the charities and the government refuse to fund them and instead subject them to biased trials apparently designed to produce negative results.

Changing this commercially driven bias is obviously a huge challenge and the topic for another blog but it will involve doctors becoming much more informed about nutrition and making lifestyle treatments for chronic disease a public health issue and so less vulnerable to being side-lined by commercial values.

A starting place for such a change could be with the patients and carers themselves. It’s already happening in other specialities; diabetes patients are increasingly questioning the benefits of a low fat diet and reporting much greater benefits by going low carb."

These words from an interesting article by Jerome Burne
http://healthinsightuk.org/2016/02/08/prevention-is-the-best-way-of-tackling-alzheimers-so-why-is-it-being-ignored-and-discredited/

I am sure lifestyle and dietary habits can and do make a difference ... and including fish like salmon and tuna can be beneficial

All the best Jan

Not only high carb via insulin as well as glucose, but also low fat and especially reduction of "cholesterol" with statins all appear to be factors. I predict yet another "epidemic" waiting in the wings.