Inflamed brains make plaque. Alzheimer’s brains are riddled with it.
The brain, like the rest of your body, has the ability to fight off infections. It does this using inflammation. It forms a kind of plaque around foreign invaders. This plaque is supposed to be washed away during sleep, but for whatever reason (possibly too much plaque, possibly some other dysfunction) not all plaque is cleared. The brains of Alzheimer’s patients routinely show large amounts of plaque. However there is also often found plaque in the brains of folks who showed no symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s a complicated relationship.
Thus many of the best things we can do to stave off dementia are also Anti-inflammatory Behaviors.