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August 14-16, 2017 | Toronto, Canada
BRAIN DISORDERS AND DEMENTIA CARE
4
th
International Conference on
Neurosurg, an open access journal
ISSN: 2471-9633
Can caloric restriction prevent ageing and dementia? Lessons learned from anorexia nervosa
Anna Rita Atti
Bologna University, Italy
A
geing, encompassing physical, psychological, and social
changes, represents the accumulation of changes in
human beings over time. The biological reasons of getting old
are still uncertain: the accumulation of DNA damage due to
oxidation processes and the planned ageing related to DNA
methylations leading to programmed cell death (apoptosis)
are claimed as the most likely determinants of the ageing
process. Ageing is the greatest known risk factors for most
human diseases. About two thirds of the deaths worldwide
are due to age-related causes. The word dementia describes
a decline in memory or other thinking skills or mental abilities
severe enough to reduce a person's ability to perform everyday
activities. Although dementia is an age-related disease (both
incidence and prevalence increase with increasing age), many
older adults maintain enough cognitive abilities to function
well and strategies aimed at preventing dementia are effective.
Prevention focuses on countering risk factors for vascular
disease, such as diabetes, midlife hypertension, midlife obesity,
midlife cholesterol, mid- and late-life depression as well as
lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical inactivity, and poor
diet. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized
by weight loss (or lack of appropriate weight gain in growing
children); difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight
for height, age, and stature; and in many individuals, distorted
body image. People with anorexia generally restrict the number
of calories and the types of food they eat. Some people with
the disorder also exercise compulsively, purge via vomiting and
laxatives, and/or binge eat. Anorexia can affect people of all ages,
genders, sexual orientations, races, and ethnicities. Historians
and psychologists have found evidence of people displaying
symptoms of anorexia for hundreds or thousands of years.
People in non-Westernized areas, might also be diagnosed with
anorexia nervosa. Although the disorder most frequently begins
during adolescence, an increasing number of children and older
adults are affected nowadays. There is a necessity to focus on
questions like: Are there scientific evidences of a different age-
and health- lifespan in persons affected by Anorexia compared
to the general population? Which is the available literature
on Anorexia Nervosa on senile age? Is it possible to prevent
dementia through caloric restriction? Does body weight have an
influence on dementia development? Does Anorexia Nervosa
have lessons to teach to dementia researchers and policy
makers?
e:
annarita.atti@unibo.itNeurosurg 2017, 2:2
DOI: 10.21767/2471-9633-C1-006