Alzheimer’s, Diet and Training

Medical Q&A [Moderated]
1

Drs. Baraki and Feigenbaum,

My father has been diagnosed as early stage Alzheimer’s Dementia and Type 2 diabetes. He is probably 40 -50 lbs north of a reasonable body weight. From what I can gather from my research, there is a a rather substantial correlation between AD and Type 2, such that some researchers consider AD to be Type 3 diabetes linked to insulin resistance and other dysfunction in the brain tissue. Have either of you spent much time with the literature to know if dietary intervention and/or exercise protocols have any efficacy in slowing disease progress? There was a thread on weight training and Demetria over on SS forums a couple of years ago, but it petered out, and I know neither of you were in the thread. His current Dr has him on Aracept, I think, and has referred him to a nutritionist, but from what I gather is not recommending any other course of action. At this point, I think searching for a second opinion, and/or more experimental neurologist is in order, but am wondering if you guys know anything that can help. This forum may not be the place for this question. Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but this situation is brutal to watch.

2

I’m very sorry to hear about your situation. Dementia can be an extremely difficult thing to deal with for sure. One important thing to remember is that dementia (including AD) is a very heterogeneous process, and different patients will have different experiences and time courses with disease progression.

There is some evidence on various dietary strategies (e.g. the Mediterranean diet, among others) being associated with slower cognitive decline. There is no evidence of a “best” dietary strategy, however. And yes, exercise is definitely recommended – though again, there is no established “best” exercise protocol either.