Getting
enough to eat is a fairly common challenge for people with dementia. A study
from Japan suggests that trouble recognizing familiar foods or remembering what
a dish tastes like could play a role.
The
investigators recruited 65 older adults: 30 had Alzheimer's disease, 20 had
vascular dementia and 15 healthy participants served as controls. The
participants were presented with replicas (so there would be no odors) of three
popular dishes in Japan. They were asked to name the dishes and then to
identify replicas of food materials included in them. Participants were also
asked to name and describe expected tastes -- such as "sweet,"
"salty" or "bitter" -- of 12 replica foods.
What
they found. Compared with healthy controls, those with Alzheimer's disease and
vascular dementia had significantly lower scores on the food and taste
cognition tests. Eight of 12 dementia patients, described as poor eaters, had
especially low taste cognition scores. Imaging studies showed that taste
cognition disorders in those with dementia were highly related to damage of the
insular cortex -- a region of the brain associated with taste.
If
your loved one is not eating enough, talk to the doctor. Any number of problems
could be responsible; for example, difficulty swallowing. If a medical cause is
ruled out, support groups or Alzheimer's disease organizations can be good
sources for practical ways to deal with mealtime challenges.
This
study was published in International Psychogeriatrics (Volume 26, page 1127).
(Source: Scientific American Health After 50 Alerts,
26 February 2015)
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