Antioxidants, diet, polyphenols and dementia.

Abstract: In developing countries, ageing of the population leads to an increase of cases with cognitive impairment, the most dramatic form being dementia. Dementia is characterised by the alteration of superior cognitive functions such as memory, attention or executive functions. The most prevalent cause of dementia is Alzheimer's disease (AD). At present, no treatment is available to cure AD and therefore prevention becomes an important way to reduce its prevalence. We shall review several epidemiological studies that showed an association between fruit and vegetable intake and cognition, or between anti-oxidant nutrients and dementia. Besides this, the chapter will focus on anti-oxidative, anti-amyloidogenic, anti-inflammatory properties and the activation of adaptive cellular stress responses associated with the use of numerous dietary polyphenolic compounds, in particular, curcumin, resveratrol and catechins, that have received a great deal of attention as alternative candidates for the prevention of AD or for AD therapy.