Alzheimer’s Disease – Nutrition & Proper Diet/Tips

For people living with Alzheimer’s Disease, eating a well-balanced, nutritious diet is nothing but beneficial. Proper nutrition is important to keep the body healthy and strong. For a person living with Alzheimer’s Disease, an unhealthy diet may worsen their cognitive function and increase their behavior symptoms.

Here are some nutrition and diet tips to follow to maintain cognitive function and an overall healthy state of mind:

• Cut down on refined sugars
• Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Get a good balance of exercise
• Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables
• Limit foods with high saturated fat and cholesterol
• Limit foods with high sodium and use less salt
• Construct a diet with foods high in antioxidant content
• Eat a variety of foods from each category
• Eat slowly
• Do not talk with food in your mouth
• Minimize distractions in the area where you eat
• Cut your food into small pieces and chew it thoroughly 
• Prepare meals that are easy to make and eat

As Alzheimer’s Disease progresses, loss of appetite and weight loss may become more of a concern and your doctor may suggest adding supplements between meals to get extra calories incorporated into your diet. Staying hydrated can be tough at times in Alzheimer’s patients so try to drink small cups of water throughout the day and consume foods with high water content. All in all, with the proper diet, your body will work more efficiently, you will have a lot more energy and your medications will work properly.

If you or a loved one is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and are interested in learning more about clinical research, please visit http://www.thecrcnj.com/CurrentStudies.html.

Clinical Studies 101

Here at The Cognitive Research Center of New Jersey, we are committed to excellence in clinical research. We want to make sure that you are educated as to what clinical research studies are, how they can help you, and where to go for more information.

What is a clinical trial?
A clinical trial is a set of procedures conducted in medical research and drug development to make sure a new drug or device is safe and effective for a particular condition. These are the steps followed before the FDA will approve the new drug or device.

Participation in clinical trials allows access to medications and medical treatments that are not yet available to the general public. If you are going through treatment for a condition and are not satisfied with the results, a clinical trial might be a good option for you. Generally, the medication and examinations are provided at no cost and you may be reimbursed for your time and travel expenses.

Each clinical trial is unique. The physician conducting the clinical trial will be able to give you more detail on how many visits will be required, what you’ll need to do at home, etc., during the initial consultation.

It is important that you know as much about the trial as you can. Plan ahead and prepare a list of questions to ask in order to feel comfortable about participating in the clinical trial. Tests, exams, and follow up are very common procedures done throughout a clinical trial to ensure the safety of participants.

Benefits:

• Gain access to advanced medical care, new medications, and treatments not yet available to the general public
• Play an active role in your own health care
• Help others by contributing to medical research
• Get reimbursed for your time and expenses (available for some clinical trials)

Risks:

• Side effects can potentially be unpleasant and in some cases serious
• The treatment or medication may not prove to be effective
• The clinical trial may require a significant amount of time

Where Can I Go to Learn More?

To learn more about clinical research, visit CISCRP (The Center for Information & Study on Clinical Research Participation).

To learn more about clinical studies going on at The Cognitive Research Center of NJ, please visit or contact us to let us know which Alzheimer’s studies you are interested in. We’ll then notify you when a study becomes available.