section three


field of nutritional psychiatry looks at the role diet and the gut microbiome play in shaping mood, mental illness, and depression. Te preponderance of research related to the brain is on dementia or Alzheimer disease (AD). As the population ages, AD is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, a major cost to the health care system, and a heartbreak to families.31 In a 2021 Forbes interview, Martha M. Boudreau, COO at the 38-million-member AARP, notes that people aged 85 years and older comprise the fastest-growing population segment; the second fastest is people aged 100 years and over.32


If you are


50 years old and in good health, half of your life (statistically speaking) is ahead of you. Tese numbers drive home the value of starting disease prevention early with diet and of conduct- ing more research in this area; they also illustrate the growing opportunities for nutrition professionals now and in the future in gerontologic and long-term care research on diseases that impact people aged 65 and over (such as diseases of the heart and lungs, and diabetes). Researchers are investigating highly processed foods; foods


high in sugar, refined carbohydrates, and unhealthy fat; as well as the presence of phytochemicals that mitigate age-related oxidative stress. In addition, trials are looking at the connection between DHA (omega-3 fatty acids) and amyloid deposits in the brain. Some of this research may reveal dietary changes that influence efforts to prevent disease. For example, Mediterranean diets cause less brain pathology in people with AD than do diets high in sat- urated fat.33


Te Mediterranean diet, the Nordic diet, and other 130


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