If an elderly person suddenly becomes a picky eater, or even insists on having something sweet at every meal, be careful—this may be the brain sending out a distress signal! A doctor warns that 5 major changes in daily eating habits are often the most easily overlooked early signs of dementia.
Doctor Reveals 5 Eating Habits That May Indicate Dementia — Suddenly Loving Sweets Also Counts?
According to a report by the foreign media outlet HuffPost, although dementia currently cannot be cured, early detection and treatment can effectively slow the worsening of the condition, significantly improve patients' quality of life, and prolong lifespan. Neurologist Majid Fotuhi says that in clinical practice, family members often anxiously ask: "My mother's eating habits have become very strange recently—could she have Alzheimer's disease?" He points out that the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no," but if an elderly person shows the following 5 unusual dietary changes when cooking or eating, it is very likely an early warning sign of dementia:
5 Eating Habits That May Indicate Dementia
1. Mealtimes Become Simpler
An elderly person who has been an excellent cook for decades and enjoyed preparing elaborate dishes suddenly switches to making extremely simple meals, or even eventually stops cooking altogether. Planning menus, buying ingredients, and the steps of cooking all require extremely high brain organization and coordination abilities. When these cognitive abilities are impaired, the elderly person will give up cooking because it feels too difficult.
2. Losing Interest in Food
Brain degeneration often first causes a decline in the sense of smell. Because most of the deliciousness we perceive in food comes from smell, impaired smell makes food suddenly taste bland and unremarkable. Dementia is often accompanied by depression, making people lose interest in everything. In addition, using utensils while talking with others at the dining table is a stressful and stimulating event for patients. In noisy or chaotic environments, they find it even harder to concentrate, and therefore resist eating.
3. Forgetting to Eat or Missing Mealtimes
Because dementia affects memory, it often causes patients to forget to eat, or forget that they actually just ate. Furthermore, the condition damages the body's hunger and satiety signal systems, making this forgetfulness even more likely. Patients find it difficult to interpret internal hunger signals, and cannot connect these signals with external cues such as time or the food on the table. When the area of the brain that regulates appetite is damaged, it weakens their desire to eat; and memory decline causes patients to forget to eat, forget that they just ate, and even no longer be able to perceive or express their own hunger. The result of this confusion is often very extreme—it may lead to eating too little, and in some cases may also cause overeating.
4. Stubbornly Repeatedly Choosing the Same Food
For ordinary people, "what to eat tonight" can also be troubling. When a patient's brain thinking becomes laborious, every decision brings mental burden. Choosing familiar food can reduce the brain's decision-making burden. When the things around them begin to become chaotic and uncertain, repetitive and predictable food can give them an irreplaceable sense of security. This kind of fixation often also appears simultaneously in their daily routines or clothing choices.
5. Craving for Sweets
This is very likely a typical sign of frontotemporal dementia (FTD), related to damage to the brain's reward mechanism and impulse control circuits. The frontal lobe in the brain usually helps regulate impulses and food choices. When the frontal lobe is damaged, this control ability weakens, causing patients to often have a strong and uncontrollable craving for sweets and starchy foods, and sometimes this craving can be abnormally intense.
What Are the Symptoms of Early/Middle/Late-Stage Dementia?
According to information from Hong Kong's Hospital Authority, dementia is a disease caused by pathological changes in brain nerve cells that leads to decline in brain function. Patients' memory, understanding, language, learning, calculation, and judgment abilities are all affected, and some will also have changes in emotion, behavior, and perception.
1. Early-Stage Symptoms (Years 1–2)
At this stage, family and friends usually think the patient's symptoms are just a normal aging process due to growing older. Signs are as follows:
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Loss of short-term memory
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Difficulty expressing or understanding abstract matters, such as expressing physical discomfort or feelings
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Mood or behavior changes unpredictably
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Difficulty learning new things and following complex instructions
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Reduced judgment; basic self-care activities can still be handled, but reminders from others are needed
2. Middle-Stage Symptoms (Years 2–5)
As the condition progresses, the patient's early difficulties become more obvious. Changes are as follows:
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Confusing long-term memory with current reality; occasional inability to express meaning in words
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Changes in behavior and personality, or becoming easily emotionally unstable
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Needing others' assistance with daily self-care activities
3. Late-Stage Symptoms (After Year 5)
Patients' lives become almost completely dependent on others, and they cannot care for themselves. Symptoms are as follows:
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Memory deficits, even forgetting familiar people and things
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Decline in physical activity and mental condition
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Inability to effectively express themselves and communicate
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Inability to handle daily life; long-term care needed
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Disruption of the biological clock
