Eat these five things if you want to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s

Around 850,000 people are living with dementia in the UK. New research suggests that one in three people born in the UK will develop dementia sooner or later. There are some brain-boosting foods we should be eating if we want to prevent it, according to Daily Star.

Dr Marilyn Glenville, a leading UK nutritionist and author said: “Your brain function does change as you get older.

“Age tends to affect your ability to store and retrieve information and you may find that words and putting faces to names sometimes eludes you.

“I believe that what you eat can have a huge impact on the health of your brain.”

The health expert revealed five foods that can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia:

1. Eat protein with every meal

“The body takes longer to process proteins than other foods, so adding protein effectively slows down the absorption of nutrients in your food, including the carbohydrate.”

2. Eat small meals often

“It is obvious that what you eat can have a huge impact on your blood sugar levels, but also important is the timing of when you eat.

“To keep blood sugar levels stable you need to create a slow, low rise in blood sugar after a meal, so your pancreas does not have to produce large amounts of insulin to deal with a quick sugar rush. And you need to try and maintain a steady level until you eat the next meal or snack.”

3. Eat unrefined carbohydrates

“We used to think that the only purpose of insulin was to regulate blood sugar, but we now know that it also regulates our neurotransmitters – the brain chemicals, such as acetylcholine, that are important for learning and memory.”

“A diet that included unrefined carbohydrates rather than refined ones, is the best way to prevent or reverse the insulin resistance that has been linked to Alzheimer’s.

“If you switch from quick-burn white food to slow burn whole foods, you create a speedy, gradual rise in your blood sugar. The body hardly has to respond at all – having to release only a small amount of insulin to deal with it.”

4. Eat more healthy fats

“Forget switching to a tasteless low-fat diet and boost your intake of the sort of healthy fats you find in oily fish, such as salmon, nuts and seeds.

“These good fats are called ‘essential fatty acids’ because they are essential to your health. They include polyunsaturated fats, omega 6 fats and omega 3 fats, the most important of which –for brain health – are the omega 3s.”

5. Eat less sugar

“It is really important to cut down on added sugar as much as you possibly can. Sugar is one of the most refined carbohydrates available and a real enemy for anyone trying to avoid dementia and Alzheimer’s.”