Cooking activity for patients with Alzheimer’s disease: a review

Abstract

Highlights

This review finds that cooking activity has become a hopeful non-pharmacological therapy in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, which providing evidence for its clinical application of cooking.

Editor’s Summary

Compared with western cooking, as an important element of traditional culture, cooking activity of Chinese food is special. However, the study about cooking activity of Chinese food on Alzheimer’s disease is very few.

Abstract

As a degenerative nervous system disease, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), can damage memory and cognitive function.Cooking activity, aninstrumental activity of daily life, is one of the non-pharmacological therapies with positive effect on AD. Here, we review theeffectiveness of cooking activity on AD. This paper shows that cookingactivity can not only improve patient’s emotional state and alleviate the conduct disorder,but alsoease the burden of professional caregiver. Cooking activity also has certain positive effects on patient’s cognition, autonomy and memory function. Now, as one of the instrumental activities of daily life, cooking activity has developed as a useful tool in the intervention trials, serious game, virtual reality training and assessment of daily living activities.

Translated abstract

艾尔兹海默症(Alzheimer’s disease,AD)是一种神经系统退化性疾病,损伤患者的记忆和认知功能。烹饪属于日常活动,作为一种非药物治疗在AD的治疗中发挥积极作用。本研究回顾了烹饪在AD患者中的应用效果,发现烹饪可改善AD患者的情绪,缓解行为紊乱,同时能减轻照顾者的负担。烹调活动对患者的认知和记忆功能也有一定的积极影响。烹饪活动不仅是一种日常生活活动,而且已经成功的应用于干预试验、游戏、虚拟现实训练和日常生活活动评估等方面。