Maintaining optimum weight for Alzheimer’s patients.
May 18, 2007 by Liz Lewis
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Getting people with Alzheimer’s disease to eat is often a battle. As a result, they often fall below their optimum weight. But now it seems that Swedish researchers have discovered the means of increasing the weight of people with Alzheimer’s disesae.
Their three month study focused on whether increased staff training and a more supportive environment would result in increased weight in patients with moderate and severe dementia.
The results concluded that weight gain can occur in Alzheimer’s patients by:
- improving communication and patient involvement
- altering meal routines
- providing a more homely environment
The results of this study have been published in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Nursing.
Reference article: Alzheimer’s Weight Gain Initiative Also Improved Patient’s Intellectual Ablities
I had read about this research finding,too, Liz, and agreed, to a point, that there was danger in the Alzheimer’s patients losing weight. This is particularly true when they can no longer feed themselves, when they begin to have trouble swallowing, and when food loses its meaning.
However, I had trouble with Mother and Auntie gaining too much weight in the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s. They wanted to eat more sweets than they normally did. I wonder if there has been research done about this…they seemed to have a craving for sweets, so we had to keep such food out of sight.
Good point. Don’t think any research has been done on dealing with the issue of weight gain and Alzheimer’s disease.