Researchers are trying to see if lifestyle interventions show cognitive improvement in people with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease. Looking back, Tammy Maida, 67, said things started to change in her late 50s. At first, she would lose track of her belongings: her keys multiple times a day, a ring, eyeglasses, her purse.
The thinking skills of a majority of people in the intervention group stayed the same, a boon since most in the control group declined. Ten people saw their cognition actually improve, while a blood test found levels of amyloid, a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, were retreating, said lead study author Dr. Dean Ornish, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
“If you picture a brain full of damage as a sink full of water, when you just turn off the tap, it takes a long time for that sink to slowly drain, right?” said Tanzi, director of the McCance Centre for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. “I wish we could do a program like this for everyone, not just people with mild cognitive impairment or early stage Alzheimer’s,” said Schindler, who was not involved in the study.The lifestyle intervention Ornish created — “eat well, move more, stress less and love more” — has been tested before. In 1990, Ornish showed for the first time inMike Carver told Gupta that he is able to think more clearly and his physical health has improved.
To find out, Ornish and professors from other leading academic centres began recruiting patients into a new study. Covid-19 hit, which stalled progress until the team realized it could offer the intervention via video conference calls. Each day a fitness instructor led online strength training exercises and encouraged 30-minute daily walks. Meditation, deep breathing, yoga and other ways to reduce stress took up another hour every day. The program also encouraged participants to prioritize good quality sleep.
“The gut microbiome loves all the fiber from the whole grains, fruits and vegetables,” Tanzi said. “My lab has shown in animals that a happy gut can trigger metabolites to the brain, which induce microglial cells to eat more of the amyloid in the brain.” In fact, microbiome tests of the study participants found two of the organisms that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s went down in the intervention group and up in the control group, Ornish said.