Food for Memory: A Review of the Effects of Diet on Alzheimer's Disease Progression

The incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) is rapidly increasing worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia characterized by progressive cognitive dysfunction. Though some studies suggest potential management options for preventing AD symptom progression, there is currently no absolute way to fully prevent Alzheimer’s disease from occuring nor is there a curative treatment. Despite the few methods associated with preventing AD symptom progression, evidence strongly suggests that diet may play a role in slowing AD symptom progression and decreasing disease burden. In this review, we evaluated several diets to understand their respective association with AD symptoms and neuropathology. Overall, we found that the Mediterranean, Vegan, Vegetarian, Ketogenic and Paleo diets improve AD cognitive symptoms and decrease amyloid β peptide (Aβ), the principal toxic factor in AD. However, further research needs to be conducted to fully elucidate the relationship between these diets and AD.