For Alzheimer's disease, everyone should be familiar with it, it is called "the most gentle terminal illness" - patients will forget the direction of home at familiar intersections; gradually lose their ability to take care of themselves, can not dress, do not know hunger, and even forget the names of relatives... Serious impact on quality of life.
At present, there are at least 35 million Alzheimer's disease patients in the world, and China accounts for about 1/4, ranking first in the world. According to epidemiological studies, the number of female patients with Alzheimer's disease is twice that of male patients, and menopause is an important stage for women to develop the disease.
So why do women face such "unfair" treatment?
Reveal that women are susceptible to Alzheimer's disease
3 reasons
Studies have found that the brain of elderly dementia patients will have amyloid plaque deposition, or neurofiber tangles, and these two phenomena are related to Aβ-amyloid and Tau protein.
Excessive accumulation of Aβ amyloid protein will produce amyloid plaque deposition, affecting neurotransmission and inducing Alzheimer's disease; while excessive phosphorylation of Tau protein will produce neurofiber tangles, affecting the patient's memory.
1. After menopause, follicle stimulating hormone is uncontrolled and protein deposition
On March 2, 2022, professor Ye Keqiang's team from the School of Life and Health of Shenzhen University of Science and Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Xiong Jing, deputy chief physician of the Department of Neurology of Wuhan University People's Hospital, published an article in the journal Nature, revealing for the first time that the increase in follicle-stimulating hormone is an important reason why women are more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease than men.
For women, follicle-stimulating hormone plays a role in promoting follicle development and maturation, participating in the formation of normal menstruation, but its production is also reverse-regulated by ovarian estrogen.
With age, especially after menopause in women, estrogen secretion decreases, follicle-stimulating hormone is uncontrolled, the content rises sharply, and it activates a neural signaling pathway in the brain, resulting in lesions of Aβ protein and Tau protein, increasing the risk of neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Estrogen may become a nerve poison in old age
In addition to follicular estrogen, estrogen itself also has an effect on brain neurons.
An article published in Adv Drug Deliv Rev shows that there are many estrogen receptors in the brain's hippocampus and cortical neurons. When estrogen binds to estrogen receptors, neuronal defense and survival can be enhanced by maintaining calcium balance, enhancing glycolysis, clearing β amyloid, etc.
But when the nervous system degenerates, estrogen may increase the load on imbalanced calcium, further exacerbating neurodegenerative processes and inducing dementia.
In addition, after menopause, the level of sex hormone-binding globulin increases, resulting in a decrease in estrogen crossing the blood-brain barrier and a decrease in estrogen utilization levels, which has also become an important reason for accelerating Alzheimer's disease.
3. The zinc content in women's bodies is high
On 9 June 2020, a team of researchers from the University of Melbourne found that women are more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, perhaps related to the far stronger zinc-releasing capacity of cells in their brains than men.
The reabsorption capacity of nerve cells to zinc ions decreases significantly with age, resulting in excess zinc ions freeing around the cell, indirectly causing Aβ amyloid accumulation.
The stronger ability of women to release zinc ions will further exacerbate the accumulation of zinc ions, and this difference may also be one of the reasons why there are far more women with Alzheimer's disease than men.
So in the face of a higher risk of disease, how should women reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease?
Prevention of Alzheimer's disease in women
It is useful to do these four steps well
- Scientific supplementation of estrogen
Menopause is prone to various health problems, which are ultimately related to the decline in estrogen secretion.
Therefore, female friends can eat more soybeans and their products, which are similar to the effect of estrogen, which can regulate estrogen levels and bind to human estrogen receptors to help improve menopausal symptoms.
In addition, female friends can monitor hormone levels during the perimenopause period, and if there are sharp changes in hormones that do not match the same age group, hormone therapy can also be carried out under the guidance of a doctor.
- Control weight
Obesity is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and related diseases. Obese people are more prone to inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance and other conditions, which can damage brain cells and increase the risk of dementia.
Studies have shown that the risk of alzheimer's disease increases by 82% in overweight people and 145% in obese people compared with women of normal weight aged 20 to 49.
Therefore, it is best to keep the weight within the normal range (that is, the BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9).
- Exercise diligently
The Canadian research team surveyed more than 9,300 older American women and recorded their exercise habits at several different ages, including before the age of 18, 30, 50, and old age.
The survey found that regardless of age group, regular exercise in women can help reduce their risk of Alzheimer's disease. While regular exercise before the age of 18 tends to achieve the best results, women who exercise regularly in this age group have a 30 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease as they enter old age than others.
- Encourage a MIND diet
The MIND diet, also known as the brain diet, was found in a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease that the brains of the people who were the least adherent to the brain diet were 7.5 years younger!
The focus of a brain-healthy diet is to encourage a daily diet to follow "nine more and five less":
(1) Encourage eating more food
*It is recommended to eat one serving of green leafy vegetables every day.
*For other vegetables, it is best to choose non-starchy vegetables that are nutritious but low in calories, such as tomatoes, cauliflower, etc.
*Eat berries at least twice a week. The antioxidants in it protect the brain from free radical damage.
*At least 5 servings of nuts per week, one serving is about 10 grams. The unsaturated fatty acids and amino acids in nuts are good for the brain nerves.
*Beans are included in at least 4 meals per week. Lecithin in it enhances brain cell activity.
*Olive oil is the main cooking oil. It is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, which can protect cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and can also slow down the degradation of nerve cell function and brain atrophy.
*Eat 3 servings (90 g) of whole grains daily. It controls the inflammatory response and helps reduce the risk of neuritis in the brain.
*Eat chicken, duck and other poultry at least twice a week.
*Eat fish at least once a week, sardines, trout, tuna rich in unsaturated fatty acids are recommended.
(2) Limit eating 5 foods less
*Butter and margarine: It is recommended to be less than 1 tablespoon (about 14 grams) per day.
*Cheese: It is recommended not to exceed once a week.
*Red Meat: It is recommended to consume no more than three servings per week.
*Fried foods: Recommended less than once a week.
*Pastries and sweets: it is recommended not to exceed four times a week.
These 5 types of foods are often high in fat, oil, salt or sugar, and eating too much will increase metabolic diseases, increase inflammation levels, and then affect brain health.
Source/Popular Science China
Editor/Liao Yunqing
Review/Qiao Hong
Producer/Xi Shujun