• Question: How regular dieting reduces the risk of brain diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

    Asked by kristiyan94 to Ben, James, Jen, Michael, Susanna on 13 Mar 2013.
    • Photo: Jen Todd Jones

      Jen Todd Jones answered on 13 Mar 2013:

      Bad diets usually include too many sugars and fats, these sugars and fats in particular in large amounts cannot be processed by the body and are stored around the body – this is what makes people gain weight! These fats also build up inside arteries around the body meaning blood flows less easily. If there are too many fats around the body the body must work hard to try to clear it up, wasting energy when that energy could be used to fight illness and infection that can contribute to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Also if the heart has to work harder to pump blood then the brain receives less blood which also means worse brain function.

    • Photo: Michael Craig

      Michael Craig answered on 14 Mar 2013:

      We’re still not sure what causes us to have a higher risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease when we’re older other than if you have a certain gene (APOe3) which you can inherit from your parents. It does seem likely that a good diet and staying fit will help us in staying healthy and stop/delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. It has been shown to be the case in vascular dementia (the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer’s http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=306&pageNumber=4). One of the really important areas of research happening at the moment is focusing on people having a healthy heart (and being fit). People thing that if our heart and circulatory system is not very good, this would have an impact on the brain, and this may lead to damage which results in getting diseases such as Alzheimers.

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