What Mark Hatzer was able to do impressed so many, including the Queen, who invited Sylvia to her annual summer party.
Mark Hatzer noticed his elderly mother Silvia was showing signs of dementia. His father passed years ago, so the prospect of losing his mother to a degenerative disease was not a welcomed one.
When Silvia became a danger to herself, Mark hospitalized her, and the experience was not pleasant. Confused by the memory-loss, Sylvia often struggled with her new environment, and she even thought the nurses were kidnapping her.
Though Sylvia was prescribed drugs to delay and manage her disease, her son did not make her take them. Instead, he looked for ways to help his mother naturally.
According to the Manchester Evening News, a local British newspaper, Sylvia followed a strict diet designed by Mark, and after months she regained her memory. Mark discovered that dementia occurred at a lesser rate in those who lived near the Mediterranean Sea.
After extensive research, he did not believe the difference was due to the air or the milder temperatures, but on the Mediterranean diet.
In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, Mark explained his reasoning. “Everyone knows about fish, but there is (sic) also blueberries, strawberries, Brazil nuts, and walnuts – these are apparently shaped like a brain to give us a sign they are good for the brain,” he said.
In addition to those foods Mark mentions, Sylvia also ate dark chocolate, sweet potatoes, broccoli, oats, and green tea. This strict diet, followed month after month, seemed to change everything because Sylvia recovered her memory and transformed from advanced dementia patient back to the mother Mark knew.
“It wasn’t an overnight miracle, but after a couple of months she began remembering things like birthdays and was becoming her old self again. More alert. More engaged,” Mark said.
While the Alzheimer’s Association in Britain is a proponent of the diet that changed Sylvia and they encourage proper nutrition as a part treatment, it is cautious.
Sue Clark or the Alzheimer’s Society says, “There is currently no cure or way of preventing dementia, but with regular mild exercise, a healthy diet, and cognitive exercises, you can help manage the disease more effectively.”
There are currently no medical studies that definitively conclude diet can reverse or halt the advancement of dementia, but this case makes us hopeful.
It impressed many, including the Queen, who invited Sylvia to her annual summer party.
“I did this for my mum,” Mark said. What a great son and what great hope these two give to those who face a diagnosis of dementia.
