Food, Eating and Alzheimer's

Alzheimer’s is a disease; persons with Alzheimer's have problems with the cognitive function. The cognitive function declines. That’s why they have difficulties in eating, they forget, they have difficulties with cutlery, they cannot recognize food, they can have poor fitting dentures, new medications, they can have a lack of physical activity and have problems with the sense of smell and taste. We have to adapt the food, to give them the desire to eat and to find symptoms. There are four tips to help the person have a better daily life.

The first one is about nutrition tips

A person who loses weight can have Alzheimer’s, that’s why we have to find symptoms. We have to help Alzheimer's patients with a balanced diet with plenty of foods (fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products…) then we have to limit the high saturated fat and cholesterol in the food (be careful with using butter, … using olive oil is better). We have to cut down on refined sugars (sugar contain calories but there are no vitamins… Using sugar can be helpful in the later-stage of Alzheimer’s) and it’s important to use less salt (The salt affects blood pressure. We can replace the salt by spices, herbs…) Doctor can suggest using supplements to add calories.  It’s important to be careful to the hydration of the person.

The second tip is to make mealtimes easier

Alzheimer’s patients can have difficulties in eating if there is something that distracts them. It’s important to limit distractions (no television, quiet room…), we have to keep the table setting simple (just utensils to eat),  we need to distinguish food from the plate (using food with contrasting colors), to check the food temperature (they cannot tell if it’s too hot to eat or drink), to serve only one food at a time (too much can distract them, they cannot choose which one to begin with…), to be flexible to food preferences (they can change their preferences, like something one day and reject the same thing another day), we have to give them plenty of time to eat (they need time to chew, swallow…), it’s better if they eat together (social event), and they can forget that they have just eaten.

The third tip is to encourage independence

We have to let Alzheimer’s patients as independent as possible, but we have to help them if they need to. To help them to be more independent we can adapt utensils, serve food in a bowl, serve finger food (easier way to eat), show them how to do, and don’t worry about the neatness.

The fourth and last one is to minimize eating and nutrition problems

Person can have problems with swallowing and it can be a reason of weight loss, that’s why we have to prepare foods which aren’t hard to chew or swallow, we have to be alert of signs of choking (we have to be sure that they have nothing in the mouth at the end of the meal), we have to prepare the favorite dishes if they have a decreased appetite, and we have to only use vitamin supplements on the recommendation of a physician.

In a nutshell, we can say that’s it’s really important to be careful of the nutrition of Alzheimer's patients, we have to adapt food, to give them the desire to eat, and to let them the most independent as we can. It’s a disease that can’t be cured, but we can help person to have a better daily life.

Agathe, Emilien and Xabi, 2TSA