Overview

The increase in the numbers of individuals diagnosed with dementia has become an area of grave concern. The Office of National Statistics recently released figures that revealed that there were 533,253 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2017. This is a 1.6% increase from 2016. When all forms of dementia are considered figures shown that there has been an increase of 7.4% in deaths from all forms of dementia. Vascular dementia has increased by 5.3% and sadly, those being diagnosed with Alzheimer's have increased by 13.9%.Yet, just over one hundred years ago, Alzheimer's disease symptoms had not been seen in patients nor had beta amyloid plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, identified in autopsies.The author takes us on a journey through our ever evolving diets and shows us how our apparently 'healthy' diets and lifestyles are risk factors for the dementias and that the disease states will continue not only to progress rapidly but increase in numbers if we don't change our eating habits. She explains the different characteristics of each form of dementia and how the symptoms and underlying causes can begin to be addressed by dietary changes; dietary changes that are long overdue if we are to curb the epidemic of dementia.