Love and Nourishment the keys to
keeping your mind sharp and your brain healthy as you grow older
D
ementia is a general term that includes several chronic diseases within of the brain including Alzheimer's 4 to 8 disease and vascular dementia, years after both of which cause progressive their diagnosis. memory loss, personality changes, and Although these are impairments of reasoning and problem frightening statistics, there solving, severe enough to interfere are now powerful reasons to be hopeful. with daily life. Every sixty-five seconds, Until recently, the scientific someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with consensus was that there was no known Alzheimer's disease, also considered way to prevent Alzheimer's disease and Type 3 Diabetes. More than 6 million dementia. Is that really true? Americans are living with Alzheimer's In 2017, a panel of twenty-eight of disease, a number that's projected to rise the world's leading experts on dementia to 13.2 million by 2050, underscoring zeroed in on both lifestyle factors and the urgent need for effective prevention medical conditions (all of which are strategies. preventable and highly Currently, Alzheimer's disease treatable) that affects one and ten people over 65. It also c o nt r i b u t e affects one and three of those over 85 to the and ranks as America's sixth-leading disease. cause of death. While deaths from The key heart disease (the number one t a k e killer of U.S. men and women) aw ay. . . dropped by 9 percent between 2000 and 2017, deaths from Alzheimer's disease have soared by 145 percent. addressing Because this memory-robbing disorder these risks has long eluded effective treatment, WRITTEN BY DR. c o u l d people who develop it, on average, die KAREN PENDLETON
prevent up to 35 percent of dementia cases. The World Health Organization (WHO) conducted its own review and issued the world's first guidelines for dementia and cognitive decline risk reduction in 2019. The WHO stated that for the first time there is solid evidence to show that the prevention of dementia is possible through the implementation of key interventions. With the insights from studies performed in 2020, we've learned that up to 40 percent of memory loss cases could either be prevented or delayed. And, an optimal lifestyle beat Alzheimer's disease risk by 60 percent. In our practices, both in Shreveport and in the Greater New Orleans area, we take these two major approaches… in order to secure your brain health, you must Love Your Brain, Protect Your Brain and Feed Your Brain. How are these three lifestyle steps accomplished? 67
