Nutritional Approaches in Alzheimer's Disease Prevention
Pp. 236-260 (25)
Lili Chen, Shishu Huang, Zhi-Gang Zhang, Cheung Toa Ng, Yat-Fung Shea, Leung-Wing Chu, Liqiu Wang, Yan Li and You-Qiang Song
Abstract
Epidemiological and biochemical studies have confirmed that some
nutritional deficiencies (or malnourishment) are risk factors for the development of
mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Adequate nutrition
plays an important role in cognitive-function maintenance. Early nutritional
intervention in the preclinical or predormal phases of AD is likely to prevent or arrest
the neurodegenerative processes that are involved in both normal elderly and
cognitively impaired elderly with prodromal AD. Furthermore, nutritional strategies are
relatively safe. Therefore, nutritional intervention is an important approach to prevent
or delay the development of AD in the elderly, which would reduce the disease burden of dementia for the whole society. This review aims to highlight recent developments
regarding the values of nutritional intervention in reducing and preventing AD and
dementia.
Affiliation:
School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong, China.