Slow Down Alzheimer’s By Changing Your Diet and Lifestyle?
Making intensive lifestyle changes in four specific areas could potentially slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.
The study found that people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease who adhered to a comprehensive program consisting of diet, exercise, stress management, and social support experienced less decline in their thinking and memory abilities as measured on standard tests for dementia. What’s more, some people’s symptoms even improved, according to Dr. Dean Ornish, founder and president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who conducted the study along with a team of scientists and neurologists.
Dr. Ornish’s earlier research focused on how intensive lifestyle changes can significantly lower the risk of atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries) and heart disease. Dr. Ornish has a unifying theory that many different chronic diseases share common biological mechanisms that are directly affected by what people eat, how much they exercise, how they respond to stress, and how much love and support they enjoy, according to a news release about the latest study. Alzheimer’s disease is the latest example of why “what’s good for your heart is also good for your brain.”
“I’m cautiously optimistic and very encouraged by these findings, which may empower many people with new hope and new choices,” Dr. Ornish said in the press release. “We do not yet have a cure for Alzheimer’s, but as the scientific community continues to pursue all avenues to identify potential treatments, we are now able to offer an improved quality of life to many people suffering from this terrible disease.”
The study involved 49 people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s dementia. The average age was 73. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to the 20-week intensive lifestyle program, which included four components:
- 1. A whole-foods, minimally processed plant-based diet low in harmful fats, refined carbohydrates, alcohol, and sweeteners. The foods were predominantly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, plus selected supplements. Three daily vegan meals and two snacks were sent to the participants and their partners twice a week to make it easier for them to stick to the diet.
- 2. Moderate aerobic exercise (mostly walking) at least 30 minutes a day and strength training at least three times a week.
- 3. Stress management. A stress management specialist guided participants in meditation, stretching, breathing, and imagery for one hour a day to improve their concentration and relaxation.
- 4. Support groups for participants and their spouses or partners for one hour three times per week to discuss any mental-health and emotional issues they were experiencing.
This group also took vitamins and supplements, including omega-3 supplements, a multivitamin, Lion’s mane mushrooms, and probiotics for cognition.
Participants who were not involved in the intensive program were told to maintain their regular lifestyle habits during the 20-week trial. They were offered the chance to join the program after the study ended.
Both groups were tested for thinking and memory and provided blood samples so that the investigators could track changes in markers for Alzheimer’s and fecal samples to offer insight into their microbiome or gut bacteria.
Study Results: Program Participants See Improvement
After 20 weeks, participants in the intensive lifestyle program showed significant improvement in three standard cognitive tests and showed a slower progression of decline in the other test. Conversely, participants in the other group showed worsening scores on all four tests.
The research team reported that not all participants involved in the intensive program improved. Of the 24 participants, 10 showed improvement in cognitive function, seven stayed the same, and seven worsened. In contrast, none of the participants in the other group improved; eight remained the same, and 17 worsened.
The research team found that the more closely people adhered to the lifestyle changes, the better their improvements. Team members say that further research is needed to help explain why cognition and function improved in some patients but not in others.
According to Dr. Ornish, many participants improved in regaining lost cognition and function. For example, several participants said that before the study, they were not able to read a book or watch TV because they could not retain most of the information, so they had to start over. However, after the study, they were able to start over and retain most of the information.
One woman reported that she had not been able to prepare her family business financial reports for five years, but now she is able to do so accurately. “A deep sense of identity is returning,” she said in the press release. “It’s given me a new lease on life, and yet it’s a familiarity and something I’ve always prided myself on. I’m coming back like I was prior to the disease being diagnosed. I feel like I’m me again—an older but better version of me.”
Similarly, a former business executive said he could manage his own finances and investments again. “It was so much a part of my life—who I am, and who I was—it was hard saying that part of me was just gone,” the study participant said in the press release. “I’m back to reconciling our finances monthly; I keep up to date on our investments. A lot of self-worth comes back.”
The study also found that the blood markers for amyloid, a protein that builds up in the brain and is thought to be responsible for Alzheimer’s disease, showed positive changes similar to those recorded in people taking lecanemab, a new Alzheimer’s medication.
Dr. Ornish told Time that the study is only the “first step.”
“This is not the study to end all studies,” Dr. Ornish said. “But it shows for the first time that intensive lifestyle changes can improve cognition and function in patients who have Alzheimer’s.”
Dr. Ornish hopes the study’s finding will encourage healthcare insurers to cover the program, just as Medicare covers the intensive lifestyle program for heart disease. Dr. Ornish also hopes the study’s results will give more people a way to slow their disease or even prevent it from progressing.
“This was designed as an intervention so anybody can do it,” Dr. Ornish told Time. “We didn’t want concierge medicine. And we have data on 15,000 people who have done the cardiac program, which is exactly the same. Bigger changes in lifestyle can lead to better clinical outcomes, cost savings, and better adherence.”
Source Links:
https://time.com/6986373/how-to-slow-alzheimers-lifestyle/
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/lifestyle-changes-significantly-improve-cognition-and-function-in-early-alzheimers-disease-for-the-first-time-in-a-randomized-controlled-trial-302166826.html
https://alzres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13195-024-01482-z
