Anxiety, food & Dementia

In the next week or so the UK government is going to outline its strategy for dealing with Dementia in England. On the BBC Breakfast TV show this morning an expert was asked what step we might all take to stave off this illness.

His response was that 20% of dementia could be avoided altogether by ensuring that you eat a diet with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables ensuring that you get lots of anti-oxidants and vitamins, Vitamin C in particular.

In previous studies vitamin B3 has been show to be helpful as well in reducing a damaging protein that causes Alzheimer's disease. B3 is found in meat, fish and potatoes.


It seems that with each new study that is published diet seems to form an ever more important role in the prevention of disease.

In my own one to one therapy work I see many people with raised levels of anxiety leading to a lack of self confidence and sometimes panic attacks.

So here are three simple, diet related ways to lower your overall level of anxiety;

1) How much tea, coffee or cola/energy drinks to you take each day. If you are up to 8 cups of coffee a day or several cans of Red Bull, the caffeine will be doing its best to over excite the brain. Try reducing the amount of caffeine you drink, or for at least part of the day switch to a decaf version.

2) Related to point 1, some people just do not drink enough liquids throughout the day. For most people about 1.5 litres (about 2.5 pints) is enough and this can be almost any non-alcoholic, un-caffeinated drink. Water, milk, fruit juice, and fruit infusions will all do the job just fine. Being correctly hydrated will ensure that you brain is working most effectively for you.

3) Consider taking a multivitamin and multi-trace element supplement. If your diet is not quite as good as it might be then these low-cost additions to your diet will ensure that you have the building blocks you need to reduce anxiety. A low level of Magnesium for example is often cited as leading to increased anxiety.

The good news is that taking these simple steps will also help reduce the risk of you having dementia later in life.