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While pharmaceutical treatments for dementia are often thought of first, they often come with high costs and potential side effects. However, recent studies, including research conducted at the University of California, San Francisco are looking at a more natural approach to combating early-onset dementia.
Researchers are emphasizing lifestyle changes, such as healthy dietary adjustments, regular exercise, stress reduction techniques, and increased social interaction, all of which, together are found to offer benefits toward slowing cognitive decline and even improving symptoms in some study participants.
The study was led by Dr. Dean Ornish MD, president of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
The research was recently published in the peer-reviewed journal Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.
The research is presented as a snapshot in time - a 20-week-long program that followed 49 people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer’s dementia diagnosis.
Half of the participants maintained their normal lifestyle habits, while the other half adhered to the healthier life changes that the medical researchers prescribed.
Score on several acuity tests that can be used to measure cognitive decline and dementia improved for those patients prescribed to follow the healthier life activities regime.
“Many different chronic diseases share the same underlying biological mechanisms,” said Dr. Ornish. “Those include inflammation, overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, changes in the microbiome...gene expressions, and immune system changes.
That’s why what is good for the heart is good for the brain—these same mechanisms affect different conditions, and lifestyle choices can make them better or worse.”
By the end of the 20-week study, those who made the proactive lifestyle changes showed statistical improvements in three of four standard cognitive tests and borderline significant changes in the dementia evaluation.
Coming up with a non-pharmaceutical method to proactively help patients is an important opportunity for the medical community and also for families of those facing this struggle.
“When people feel better and see changes, that reframes the motivation from fear of dying to joy of living, which is more sustainable,” says Ornish.
The Preventive Medicine Research Institute team expects to continue following patients and include other individuals into the study.
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