scholarly journals The Impact of Diet Type on Weight Loss in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 153331752110448
Author(s):  
Tomiyo Nakamura

Objectives: To compare differences in weight loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease on normal, diabetic, or texture-modified diets. Methods: This prospective interventional study examined the data of patients with Alzheimer’s disease who were admitted to a long-term care hospital in Japan from February to April 2013. Dietary elements and weight loss over a 3-month period were examined. Results: Of the 75 patients examined, 6 were on a normal diet, 10 were on a diabetic diet, and 59 were on a texture-modified diet. Weight loss was significantly associated with body weight, Mini Nutritional Assessment®, and diet type. In the non-malnourished patients, there was a significant difference between the three types of diets in terms of eating rate and weight loss. Conclusion: Diet type was independently associated with weight loss in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Research using larger sample sizes is necessary to eliminate the differences between these diet types.

2008 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Albuquerque M. de Carvalho ◽  
Valéria Santoro Bahia ◽  
Leticia Lessa Mansur

Abstract Functional communication is crucial for independent and efficient communicative behavior in response to every day activities. In the course of dementia progression, cognitive losses may impair these abilities. For this reason, functional communication assessment should be part of a formal assessment to quantify and qualify the impact of deficiency on patients' lives. Objective: To compare functional communication abilities in fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FLTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: Six AD patients (mean age: 82.50±2.66 years; mean education: 5.67±3.61 years), and eight FTLD patients (mean age: 57.13±9.63 years; mean education: 10.86±6.91 years) had their close relatives answer the Functional Assessment of Communication Skills for Adults (Asha-facs) . Statistical analyses correlated the performance on each of the Asha-facs domains (social communication, communication of basic needs; reading, writing, number concept and daily planning) between both groups. Results: Analyses showed that functional communication was similar for AD and FTLD patients. Only two items had statistical difference, namely 'Comprehension of inference' (AD 6.7±1.33; FTLD 2.43±2.30, p=0.017) and 'capacity to make basic money transactions' (AD 2.17±2.04; FTLD 4.00±0.90, p=0.044). Comparison among the four domains' mean scores revealed no significant difference. Conclusion: The Asha-facs is a useful instrument to characterize functional communication abilities in both FTLD and AD. Nevertheless, the analysis presented for this sample showed that the Asha-facs could not discriminate which aspects of the FTLD and AD differed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1109-1117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Li ◽  
Matteo Cesari ◽  
Natalia Del Campo ◽  
Sandrine Andrieu ◽  
Birong Dong ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTBackground:To estimate the impact of comorbid diabetes on caregiver stress in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients from the Impact of Cholinergic Treatment Use (ICTUS) study.Methods:Using the Data from the ICTUS study, diabetes mellitus (DM) was recorded at baseline and caregiver burden was assessed twice per year using the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI) scale. The three-factorial model of ZBI (the effect on the social and personal life of caregivers, the psychological burden and the feelings of guilt) was adopted. Linear mixed models were used to examine the relation between DM and the scores of ZBI.Results:The present analyses were conducted on 1,264 AD subjects. A total of 156 patients (12.3%) had DM with taking antidiabetic medication and/or self-report of a history. At baseline, the caregivers of patients with or without DM had similar ZBI global scores and similar scores of three different factors of ZBI. Unadjusted and adjusted models both indicated that ZBI global score increased over a 24-month follow-up without significant effect of DM. Similarly, unadjusted model showed that DM was not determining any significant difference in the score of any factor. However, adjusted model indicated that in diabetic patients, the scores of the social and personal life of caregivers and the psychological burden increased more slowly than those in non-diabetic patients (p = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively).Conclusions:DM may affect the caregivers’ daily social and personal life and psychological burden in AD patients. It is necessary for further research.


Author(s):  
Nakamura T ◽  

Background and Aims: Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) frequently develop weight loss. However, little is known about the energy and protein thresholds that cause weight loss. The purpose of this study was to determine the threshold of daily energy and protein requirements to prevent weight loss in patients with AD. Methods: We included 75 Japanese long-term care hospital patients with probable AD (22 men and 53 women, aged 65–101 years) in an interventional study. After a one-week survey using weighed food records weighed food records, the relationship between the obtained energy and protein intake and weight loss after three months was examined. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the daily determinants of weight loss. Subsequently, receiver operating characteristic curves were used to examine the threshold for discriminating weight loss. Results: Sixty-one (81.3%) patients were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition. Twenty patients (26.7%) had >5% weight loss. The significant associations with weight loss were Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) point, energy intake, and protein intake; with a MNA point at cutoff of 17.25, an energy intake at cutoff of 29.93kcal/kg, and a protein intake at cutoff of 1.122g/kg. Conclusion: To prevent weight loss in AD patients, it is important to prevent malnutrition and administer more than 30kcal/kg energy intake and more than 1.1g/kg protein intake. Future studies with a larger sample size are needed to determine the threshold of daily energy and protein requirements to prevent weight loss.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 498-498
Author(s):  
M.T. Santos ◽  
G.C. Couto ◽  
J.C. Achieri ◽  
C.A. Júnior

Dementia are increasingly prevalent in population. The most common causes of dementia is Alzheimer's disease (AD). Screening tests have been used for the premature diagnosis of Alzheimer Disease (AD), specifically in the executive functions and language, which are compromised at an initial stage. However, the necessity standardized means and validated for our middle, to show oneself a pressing subject.ObjectiveTo analyze the impact of the length of sentences in the abstraction of proverbs in the Screening Test for Alzheimer's disease with Proverbs (TRDAP), healthy elderly and with Alzheimer's disease at early stage.MethodSurvey document in the database, analyzing the responses of the elderly (abstract or concrete interpretation of proverbs), relating the length of sentences (sayings) of stage B of TRDAP with the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease and the interference of age and schooling.ResultsHealthy older people showed greater capacity for abstraction than those with AD. There was Significant differences, in the sayings 1 (p = 0.033) and 2 (p = 0.001), corresponding to lower sentences, which did not occur with the proverb 3. As for age no verified significant difference among the healthy and only saying 3 in AD patients, however schooling differenced the healthy.ConclusionElderly with Alzheimer's disease at an initial stage have lower performance in the comprehension of ambiguous sentences, interpretation and abstraction of proverbs, corroborating with the data of the literature. The size of these sentences appears to be inversely proportional to the correctness of interpretation in elderly patients with and without AD.


Author(s):  
Alev Keser ◽  
Filiz Yildirim

The purpose of this study was to determine nutritional status and its influence on their quality of life in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and anthropometric measurements. This study was conducted with 57 Alzheimer type dementia patients between the ages of 52 and 89 who live in nursing homes in Ankara/Turkey. In this study, it was found that the 57.9% of the AD patients were at risk of malnutrition, and that 19.3% were malnourished. Malnutrition risk rises as the length of stay increases (p< .05). A significant correlation between body weight and quality of life as well as one between calf circumference and quality of life was detected (p< .05). In this study, nutrient intake among aged individuals with AD was found unbalanced; a statistically significant correlation between energy / nutrient intake and quality of life also was not detected.


2018 ◽  
pp. 68-92
Author(s):  
Alev Keser ◽  
Filiz Yildirim

The purpose of this study was to determine nutritional status and its influence on their quality of life in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) and anthropometric measurements. This study was conducted with 57 Alzheimer type dementia patients between the ages of 52 and 89 who live in nursing homes in Ankara/Turkey. In this study, it was found that the 57.9% of the AD patients were at risk of malnutrition, and that 19.3% were malnourished. Malnutrition risk rises as the length of stay increases (p< .05). A significant correlation between body weight and quality of life as well as one between calf circumference and quality of life was detected (p< .05). In this study, nutrient intake among aged individuals with AD was found unbalanced; a statistically significant correlation between energy / nutrient intake and quality of life also was not detected.


Author(s):  
D. Rodrigues Lecheta ◽  
M.E. Madalozzo Schieferdecker ◽  
A.P. de Mello ◽  
I. Berkenbrock ◽  
J. Cardoso Neto ◽  
...  

Background: Dietary changes are frequent in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objective: to assess the dietary intake of elderly with AD. Design: cross sectional study. Setting: AD patients followed at the Health Center of Elderly Care Ouvidor Pardinho, in Curitiba/Brazil, from November/2010 to July/2011. Participants: 96 individuals. Measurements: the scales used were the Mini Nutritional Assessment to determine the nutritional status and the Clinical Dementia Rating to set the stage of dementia. The average food intake of three days was analyzed for energy, carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron and liquids, and compared with the individualized nutritional recommendations. Results: 96 elderly patients were evaluated. The mean age was 78.0 ± 6.52 years, and most of them had mild AD (54.2%) and risk of malnutrition (55.2%). All of them were oral fed and 37.5% received modified consistency food. Regarding independence for feeding: 44.8% of the elderly needed assistance to serve food, 31.3% did not eat when the meal was not offered by the caregiver, and 31.3% ate less than usual. Regarding dietary adequacy: 41.7% had low-calorie diet, 46.9% low-protein diet, and most of the patients had insufficient intake of vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Decreased appetite occurred in 31.3% of the elderly. Conclusion: the dietary intake of AD patients is inadequate when compared with nutritional recommendations. Caregivers should be informed about the need of specialized nutritional monitoring and feeding assistance for the demented patient since the early stage of the disease.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 153331752090716
Author(s):  
O. Vicente de Sousa ◽  
J. Mendes ◽  
T. F. Amaral

This study investigated how different nutritional and functional status indicators are associated with mortality in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A prospective cohort study was conducted among 79 community-dwelling older adults with AD. Follow-up was 60 months. Undernutrition status was evaluated by Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), body mass index, mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC), calf circumference, and phase angle. Functional status was assessed by handgrip strength, and usual gait speed. Twenty-two participants died (27.8%). Results show that undernutrition (hazard ratio [HR] 5.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.21-14.61), weight loss (HR 3.82, 95% CI 1.37-10.63), underweight (HR 3.24, 95% CI 1.18-8.82), low MAMC (HR 4.54, 95% CI 1.65-12.48), calf circumference ≤ 31 (HR 4.27, 95% CI 1.63-11.16), low HGS (HR 3.11, 95% CI 1.18-8.17), and low gait speed (HR 4.73, 95% CI 1.68-13.27) were all associated with mortality. In conclusion, a poor nutritional and functional status was associated with a higher risk of mortality, regardless of sex, age, marital status, education, and cognitive function.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document