Link between weight and Alzheimer's found? Optimal body mass index with low dementia risk
If your memories are stolen at 48....
Sister Liang was sent to the psychiatry department of a hospital, and her family said she suspected Alzheimer's.
Sister Liang's husband said that he lost the key to the house several times, and now he hangs the key directly around her neck. I think I haven't washed the washed clothes, and I don't remember to take them out to dry after washing. Usually, I don't forget to put salt in cooking or repeat it many times.
The worst part is that half a year ago, people walked away when the cooking was halfway through. As a result, they forgot, and the kitchen burst into flames. Fortunately, it was put out in time to avoid a major disaster.
He went to the local hospital for examination and found that he had brain atrophy and suspected senile dementia.
Afterwards, the family took Sister Liang to the provincial hospital for further examination. During the physical examination, the doctor found that Sister Liang was in a very bad condition: she was inattentive, often answered inappropriate questions, and her memory and comprehension abilities were also lower than ordinary people. In addition, the MMSE examination was only 14 points , which was in line with Diagnosis of clinical dementia.
The MRI results also surprised the doctor. Under normal circumstances, Ms. Liang's brain should be full, but at this time, it showed that the brain parenchyma was atrophied, the sulcus was deep, and the hippocampus was also atrophied.
The doctor said that although Sister Liang is 48 years old, she is the same as an elderly person in her 70s clinically .
1. Maintaining this number of body mass index, the risk of dementia is the lowest
Obesity is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer's, but do you know the exact relationship?
The clinical team of Professor Yu Jintai from the Department of Neurology, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, and the team of Professor Feng Jianfeng/Professor Cheng Wei from the Brain-inspired Intelligence Research Institute of Fudan University jointly carried out a study to confirm the relationship between obesity and dementia risk and the underlying mechanism. Results Published in Molecular Psychiatry, a top journal in the medical field.
The average follow-up time of this study was 8.71 years, and the follow-up survey of 322,336 non-demented people aged 50-73 years old found that:
• 1.18 times higher risk of dementia at very low birth weight compared to normal birth weight
• Obese childhood body size was associated with an 18% increased risk of dementia compared to average body size
• The optimal BMI is 29.2kg/m² for men and 28.5kg/m² for women . Body mass index BMI in adults showed a U-shaped relationship with dementia risk.
The study concluded that low birth weight , obesity in childhood, and being overweight or underweight in adulthood significantly affect the risk of dementia , so it is especially important to develop weight control from an early age!
2. Dementia may be latent for 20 years, don't let go of the body's prompts
The family found that Sister Liang had been abnormal for nearly two years, but the doctor believed that Sister Liang had been sick for at least 5 years .
Although the progress of Alzheimer's is slow, the incubation period can range from several months to several years, and some even 20 years. Therefore, early detection of dementia is particularly important. Among them, the top ten symptoms of dementia cannot be ignored!
Difficulty handling familiar things
Memory continues to decline, which has affected daily life
Decreased ability to judge
Difficulty in language expression
Often putting things in inappropriate places
Growing confusion about who, when, and where
Personality changes
Mood becomes unstable
Decreased ability to understand and arrange things
Lose the initiative to do things
Of course, you don’t need to worry too much. Although the brain cells will degenerate to varying degrees after entering old age, the functions of most surviving brain cells exist and have a certain compensatory function, which can help us maintain normal mental activities.
Relevant clinical research data in recent years have shown that the degeneration of brain cells will gradually stop until around the age of 90, and only 4% to 5% of the elderly will suffer from dementia. The vast majority of the elderly actually have relatively healthy brain function. , not only life has not been affected, but even a certain ability to study and work.
3. Two eating habits may increase the risk of dementia
We know that people don't get dementia when they are old, but some habits may actually bring us one step closer to dementia.
1. Don't eat breakfast
A study published in the "Japanese Journal of Human Sciences for Health and Social Services" conducted a 6-year follow-up survey on 525 elderly people over the age of 65 in terms of living and eating habits. Afterwards, older adults who skipped breakfast were four times more likely to develop dementia than other older adults.
Skipping breakfast can easily lead to insufficient nutrient intake, unable to meet the needs of the brain, resulting in premature aging of the brain and the possibility of functional degradation, which in turn increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
2. Don’t eat meat
In the case, Ms. Liang was a vegetarian for a long time. During the examination, she found that the vitamin B12 level in her body was 73pg/mL, which was significantly lower than the normal value.
The French National Institute of Health and Medical Research, with more than 6,000 elderly people over the age of 65 as a research object, found that compared with people who ate meat more than 4 times a week, long-term vegetarians had a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease. 67%, with a 58% risk of dementia of all types, including Alzheimer's disease.
The underlying cause of the increased risk of dementia may be related to vitamin B12 deficiency caused by insufficient meat intake .
4. Measure the risk of dementia
In the case, Miss Liang's MMSE score was 14 points. On the grading standard of dementia severity, MMSE≥21 was considered mild, MMSE 10-20 was considered moderate, and MMSE≤9 was considered severe.
The Mini-Mental State Scale (MMSE) is a widely used clinical cognitive function screening scale, which can initially screen various types of cognitive impairment and dementia. If you suspect this tendency, you might as well test it. Of course this is no substitute for clinical diagnosis.
At present, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease in the world, but early preventive intervention can protect the cognitive ability of the brain and help delay the onset of the disease:
• Strengthen cognitive training, can consciously carry out mental activities
• A lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, deep-sea fish, beans, you can eat some olive oil
• Do physical exercise 3-4 times a week, accumulating more than 180 minutes of aerobic exercise per week, preferably combined with strength training
• Risks of Alzheimer's, such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., should be actively controlled
The causes of Alzheimer's are complex and there is no cure. What we can do is to actively intervene to prevent dementia from occurring.
References:
[1] "The latest research finds: maintaining this number of body mass index, the risk of dementia is the lowest". Medical community. 2022-05-11
[2] "Disease Day | 10 signs of Alzheimer's disease, parents should take preventive measures early if they have symptoms". The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University. 2016-09-21
[3] "Study found that this habit of getting up early increases the risk of Alzheimer's by 4 times! This "brain-building" strategy, I hope you do it every day~". I am a big doctor. 2022-05-20
[4] What is the evaluation process of the Mini Mental State Evaluation Scale (MMSE)? 》. Psychiatric Nursing. 2022-05-15
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