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Nutrition and dementia

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Introduction Dementia is a constant growing disease that our country faces everyday. [1] There are 5.5 million Americans 65 or older that have been diagnosed with dementia in 2017 alone. These numbers can draw cause for concern, because if majority of people who are diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s still living at home, it could be very detrimental to their health. Because dementia is a disease that affects the brain, which means it is also affecting one's memory, it could also be causing people to forget to eat, take their medication, or which food is good or bad and how long they have had it sitting around. With this disease causing one to forget to eat correctly, there is the possibility that they could not be consuming the necessary vitamins and minerals needed everyday, along with the correct amount of servings of fruits, vegetables, and other food sources, such as iron and protein to sustain a nutritious diet. One of the possibilities of constantly forgetting to eat or forgetting the important information about the food in one's house, is malnutrition. There is also the chance that one could get food poisoning and constantly be sick because they could not remember how long they have had a certain food item, or if they forgot to put it back in the fridge for days at a time, leaving the food out gives it the opportunity to grow bacteria making the person ill upon consumption.

Malnutrition Malnutrition in the elderly can lead to many health concerns, and having dementia that potentially caused this problem does not help matters. [2]Some of the health concerns that can arise from malnutrition is a weak immune system, which would also increase the risk of infections and illnesses, especially if one consumed old left out food with developed bacteria. If you were to fall and cut yourself you would have a longer healing time than a normal healthy person, because they consume more vitamin A, C, and Zinc in their diet to help their wounds heal. With a lack in major vitamins such as vitamin D and Calcium, there is a greater risk of a decrease in bone mass, risking more broken bones and fractures. There is also a higher risk of hospitalization with the potential insertion of a nasogastric (NG) tube through the nose to deliver nutrients to the body. The worst case possible with malnutrition is death.

Immune System With dementia comes the unavoidable forgetfulness no matter how hard one tries to remember something, they just can't. With this forgetfulness one cannot remember how long they left something out, for example, if they pulled out some leftovers from the fridge to heat up but did not eat it all leaving it out. This food could be left out for up to days at a time and when they realize that they left food out, they aren't going to remember how long it was left out, so will naturally put it back into the fridge. The problem with not knowing how long that food was left out, bacteria could of grown while it was left out, so when it is going to eat again, the food could give any person who eats it food poisoning and possibly hospitalization. [3] "The review argues that the innate immune system initially activates to eliminate a perceived threat of brain cell abnormality. But by remaining active over time, it causes low-level prolonged damage to normal brain cells, ultimately leading to their death." This new research shows that the immune system could be the cause of dementia and shows the new found importance on taking care of your body and what you put in it, because if you have a healthy diet, then it will be less likely that one will get sick from a weakened immune system, decreasing Alzheimer's disease.

effects dementia has on nutrition[edit]


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  1. "2017 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures". alz.org. Alzheimer Association. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  2. {{cite web|first1=Mayo Clinic Staff|title=Senior health:How to prevent and detect malnutrition|url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/caregivers/in-depth/senior-health/art-20044699%7Cwebsite=mayoclinic.org%7Caccessdate=1 April 2018}
  3. Richards, RI; Robertson, SI; O'Keefe, LV. "Immune system 'plays a role in dementia'". NHS your choices. Retrieved 1 April 2018.