There is no shortage of claims of what may prevent, alleviate, or slow down dementia. It can be very difficult to sift through what is truth, what is half-truth. and what is fraud.
Enter Google Scholar, your search engine within a search engine that will search the primary sources of the popular articles found in the media.
Type in https://scholar.google.com/. Add search terms, such as “coconut oil and dementia.” Read the articles that catch your attention.
A frustration of scientific literature is that many scientific articles are behind a paywall, that is, you have to pay a publisher to access the full article. A mentor of mine said in a presentation to an audience of scientists, “If you want to almost guarantee that your research will not be read, publish it in a journal.” For some though, it is ‘write articles or lose funding.’
While researchers usually need the full articles for a review (and their university or hospital can afford it), you can likely learn enough from the “abstract.” The abstract is a paragraph that summarizes the major parts of a peer-reviewed article: hypothesis, what population was studied, methods, results, discussion., and limitations. If you search enough places, you may even find the full article at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ of the National Library of Medicine.
The information can help you to be an informed customer and patient. When you ask your doctor about a certain ingredient in a supplement store, you can show them the article or abstract and ask their opinion. This method is more likely to initiate a conversation rather than putting the doctor on the spot. It also demonstrates that you research from reliable resources. I once asked my primary doctor about a supplement and offered some key findings of an article. His response? “Sounds interesting. I don’t see any harm in you trying it out.” Remember safety is important, but you will also have to consider the out-of-pocket cost and chance of benefit.
Articles can also be found on non-drug therapies, what activities may work best in the home, preventative diets, and caregiver burden.
Give it a try on something on caregiving or another topic.
