Health security

Dementia symptoms: Have you started to like this type of food? Early warning sign

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of progressive neurological disorders. There are over 200 different subtypes of dementia, but the most common are Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia and mixed dementia. Despite their differences, there are some common symptoms.


One warning sign is a change in food preferences.

This is often characterised by a sudden sudden liking of sweet foods, and poor table manners, explains the NHS.

...Other behavioural symptoms include:

• Being insensitive or rude
• Acting impulsively or rashly
• Loss of inhibitions
• Seeming subdued
• Losing interest in people and things
• Losing drive and motivation
• Inability to empathise with others, seeming cold and selfish
• Repetitive behaviours, such as humming, hand-rubbing and foot-tapping, or routines such as walking exactly the same route repetitively
• Compulsive eating, alcohol drinking and/or smoking
• Neglecting personal hygiene.