Close Relationship With Caregivers Slows Alzheimer's

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities,

Alzheimer's and Dementia Weekly

A group of Utah State University researchers and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, Duke University and Boston University have demonstrated that the rate of clinical progression of dementia may be slowed by a close relationship with one's caregiver. The findings will be published in the September 2009 issue of "The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences" by Oxford Journals

The research study "Caregiver Recipient Closeness and Symptom Progression in Alzheimer Disease. The Cache County Dementia Progression Study," started in 2002 and monitored 167 participants with Alzheimer's disease for three years. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, measured the cognitive and functional status of the participants and the caregiver-reported relationship of the participants. It was found that higher levels of closeness to ones caregiver were significantly associated with a slower decline in both cognitive and functional domains, especially in persons with spouse caregivers.

USU Researchers involved in the study are Maria Norton, associate professor of family, consumer and human development and principal investigator for the Cache County Memory Study, the population wide project from which persons with dementia were identified; JoAnn Tschanz, associate professor of psychology and director of the Cache County Dementia Progression Study; and Kathy Piercy, associate professor of family, consumer and human development; and Chris Corcoran, associate professor of mathematics and statistics.

"This is the first study to demonstrate that, in addition to medications that help slow the progression of the disease, there are non-pharmacologic factors in the caregiving environment that may also help to extend functional abilities and quality of life for the person with dementia," Norton said. "Considering the aging of the 'Baby Boomer' generation, finding ways to reduce risk for development of dementia and slowing the rate of decline in affected individuals are urgent public health priorities."

The researchers will now focus on finding the kind of caregiver activities that may promote the longevity and quality of brain function for those suffering from dementia. The new focus may lead to interventions that will enhance the caregiving relationship and help slow the decline caused by Alzheimer's disease.

USU has collaborated with Duke University and Johns Hopkins University since 1994 when it began the Cache County Memory Study. The study is funded by the National Institute on Aging and has followed an initial cohort of more than 5,000 persons aged 65 and older to study the genetic and environmental factors that affect risk for development of Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias. Persons identified with dementia by the Cache County Memory Study are then monitored by the Cache County Dementia Progression Study.

The Cache County Memory Study follows individuals to the point of dementia onset to study what factors affect risk of developing the disease. The Dementia Progression Study is focused on what factors affect the rate of progression of the disease once....read all of how Caregivers Slows Alzheimer's

DASH Diet Combats Mental Decline

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities,

WebMD

Brain and Nervous System Health Center

Low-Fat, High-Fiber Diet Curbs Memory Loss

By Charlene Laino

WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD (

Vienna, Austria) -- The low-fat, high-fiber diet recommended for lowering blood pressure may help prevent memory loss and sharpen mental skills.

Known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension ( DASH) diet, the plan emphasizes fruits and vegetables, nuts and legumes, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Sodium, sweets, and red meats are to be consumed sparingly.

In a new study, the greater a person’s adherence to the DASH diet, the slower the rate of mental decline, reports Heidi Wengreen, PhD, RD, assistant professor of nutrition at Utah State University in Logan, and colleagues.

It’s not surprising that the diet worked: The DASH eating plan has been proven to lower blood pressure, and high blood pressure is a known risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, says Ron Munger, PhD, a professor of nutrition at Utah State who also worked on the study.

“Over the years, researchers have tried to slow cognitive decline using single nutrients and supplements, with mixed results. [That’s because] the total diet is greater than the sum of its parts,” he tells WebMD.

Vegetables, Nuts, Whole Grains Help
The study involved 3,831 people 65 and older with no signs of dementia.

At the start of the study, they filled out a 142-item food questionnaire asking what they ate and how often they ate it. Based on their adherence to the components of the DASH diet, the participants were divided into five groups, or quintiles.

A standard test that measures overall cognitive function, including memory, attention span, and problem solving, was given at the outset and four other times over an 11-year period.

The researchers found that those in the highest quintile had the best cognitive functioning at the beginning of the study and the least decline in mental skills over time.

The best foods at curbing mental decline: vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, and nuts and legumes, Munger says.

The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease.

Not Easy to Follow
The DASH diet isn’t easy to follow, he acknowledges. It calls for a total of eight to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, for example, and “only about 25% of Americans eat even five servings a day,” Munger says.

“The good news is there’s lots of........read more about the
DASH Diet Combats Mental Decline

Spouse Has Dementia? You're at Risk, Too

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities

WebMD

Alzheimer's Disease Health Center

Study Shows Husbands and Wives Who Are Caregivers Have Higher Risk of Dementia
By Charlene Laino
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MD (Vienna, Austria) -- A first-of-its-kind study suggests that spouses of people with dementia are at substantially increased risk of developing dementia themselves.

Researchers followed more than 1,200 couples for 10 years. They found that wives who cared for husbands with dementia were nearly four times more likely to develop dementia than wives of men who didn't have dementia.

Husband caregivers were almost 12 times more likely to develop dementia than husbands of women who were cognitively healthy, says researcher Maria Norton, PhD, associate professor of gerontology at Utah State University, Logan.

Dementia isn't contagious, of course. "But the amount of stress involved in caring for a spouse with dementia is tremendous," and stress is a known risk factor for dementia, says Ralph Nixon, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist and Alzheimer's disease expert at New York University and vice chairman of the Medical & Scientific Advisory Council at the Alzheimer's Association.

People who are stressed out are also less likely to eat a healthy diet and exercise, both of which are critical to brain health, he tells WebMD. Nixon was not involved with the research.

The study was presented at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease.

Norton tells WebMD that "one might think the couples' shared environment could explain the findings. But we controlled for shared environment, education, and genetics, and ruled all those factors out."

Why are husband caregivers at so much greater risk of developing dementia than the wife caregivers?

Norton believes it's because older men tend to rely on their wives to keep up social ties with relatives and friends. "The social support system shrinks if the wife has dementia," she says.

Also, men often fail to go to the doctor without some nudging from their wives, Norton says. This places them at higher risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and other conditions that may raise the risk of dementia.

No matter how sick your spouse is, take care of your own health too, she advises.

Norton offers this advice for adult children of people with dementia:

Visit frequently and.......read all of Spouse Has Dementia? You're at Risk, Too

Lying To Alzheimer's Patients

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities,

Listen to this interview with Ron Bel Bruno, senior vice president and editorial director at HNW

NPR

For families caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease, communication can be emotionally exhausting.

If the family receives bad or disturbing news, is it ever compassionate to not tell the family member with Alzheimer's about it, or even to lie about it?

Lying To Alzheimer's Patients

Diets bad for teeth are also bad for the body

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities,

PhysOrg.com) -- Dental disease may be a wake-up call that your diet is harming your body.

"The five-alarm fire bell of a tooth ache is difficult to ignore," says Dr. Philippe P. Hujoel, professor of dental public health sciences at the University of Washington School of Dentistry. Beyond the immediate distress, dental pain may portend future medical problems. It may be a warning that the high-glycemic diet that led to dental problems in the short term may, in the long term, lead to potentially serious chronic diseases.

Hujoel reviewed the relationships between diet, dental disease, and chronic systemic illness in a report published July 1 in The Journal of Dental Research. He weighed two contradictory viewpoints on the role of dietary carbohydrates in health and disease. The debate surrounds fermentable carbohydates: foods that turn into simple sugars in the mouth. Fermentable carbohydrates are not just sweets like cookies, doughnuts, cake and candy. They also include bananas and several tropical fruits, sticky fruits like raisins and other dried fruits, and starchy foods like potatoes, refined wheat flour, yams, rice, pasta, pretzels, bread, and corn.

One viewpoint is that certain fermentable carbohydrates are beneficial to general health and that the harmful dental consequences of such a diet should be managed by the tools found in the oral hygiene section of drugstores. A contrasting viewpoint suggests that fermentable carbohydrates are bad for both dental and general health, and that both dental and general health need to be maintained by restricting fermentable carbohydrates.


The differing perspectives on the perceived role of dietary carbohydrates have resulted in opposing approaches to dental disease prevention, Hujoel notes, and have prompted debates in interpreting the link between dental diseases and such systemic diseases as obesity, diabetes, and some forms of cancer.

Over the past twenty years or so, Hujoel says, people have been advised to... read all about Diets bad for teeth are also bad for the body

Caregivers Will Benefit from Adult Day Care

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

Here are more interesting dementia articles and activities,

gantdaily.com

Llam Jackson, Penn State University

UNIVERSITY PARK - Caring for an elderly family member can be stressful and can pose health threats to caregiver givers. Steven Zarit, professor and head, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State, received a $3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to study the effects of caregiving on familial caregivers. He will look at people who care for family members with dementia and how adult day care impacts the stress levels of all individuals involved.

People with dementia experience progressive memory loss, which can lead them to act out in ways that are not always easy to handle. They may try to leave the house, struggle with dressing, reject help and become agitated. This erratic behavior requires constant surveillance and any lapses in vigilance could lead to danger. Trained professionals are more prepared to deal with these types of behaviors and often experience less stress than family members.

"Using adult day care can reduce stress for family members by lifting the burden of responsibility from them for a few hours," said Zarit. "At the same time, day care provides stimulating activities that promote sleep and well-being in those being cared for."

Zarit will interview and collect saliva samples from caregivers on eight consecutive days to test both self-perceptions of stress and physiological stress. Because adult day care is typically used only three or four days a week, he will be able to assess how stress levels fluctuate when day care is used or not used.

"In many studies that test stress in individuals, the subjects might only have one day that they experience high stress," said Zarit. "In this experiment, though, participants will experience several days of high stress. This should give us a better understanding of the mechanism through which stress affects our health and it will be able to tell us what happens physiologically when someone reports having a good or bad day."

Through his research.......read all of how.......Caregivers Will Benefit from Adult Day Care whether their loved one has dementia or not

Little-known benefit can help vets, and spouses, with assisted living

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Here is information on being the best caregiver you can be

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Philly.com

By Saul Friedman

Newsday (MCT)

Here is some old but good news for veterans of modest means who were in service during wartime and need medical and nursing care.

On Dec. 19, 2006, then-Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson issued a press release "to inform wartime veterans and surviving spouses of deceased wartime veterans about an underused, special monthly pension benefit called 'Aid and Attendance.'"

The press release stated, "Although this is not a new program, not everyone is aware of his or her potential eligibility. The Aid and Attendance pension benefit may be available to wartime veterans and surviving spouses who have in-home care or who live in nursing homes or assisted-living facilities."

Eligible veterans need not have served overseas or in combat; they must have served during the period of a war: World War II, Dec. 7, 1941-Dec. 31, 1946; Korea, June 27, 1950-Jan. 31, 1955; Vietnam, Aug. 5, 1964-May 7, 1975; Persian Gulf War, Aug. 2, 1990 to a date not yet determined.

The press release got little notice, perhaps because Veterans Affairs wanted to save money. But it has surfaced among veterans and elder lawyers such as Frank L. Buquicchio of Islandia, who is accredited by the VA to give advice to and represent veterans.

The head of his law firm, Vincent Russo, said that, other than the press release, the VA had chosen not to publicize this benefit. But, he added, "It can be a lifesaver for veterans and their spouses because the additional monthly payment from the VA can make assisted living more affordable."

As word of the benefit got around, elder law firms throughout the country became.....read all about a benefit can help vets, and spouses, with assisted living