The MEDITERRANEAN diet has been hailed for a long time as the optimal diet for cardiovascular health.
Furthermore, research shows that doing so can lessen the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, paving the way to a long and healthy life.
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Dementia risk may be reduced by nearly a quarter if you follow this diet, which is high in plant-based foods, seafood, fruit, nuts, legumes, and olive oil.
BMC Medicine published the results of a new study that analyzed data from the UK Biobank, which included information from people who had previously completed a self-administered dietary assessment.
It found that people who followed the Mediterranean diet on a regular basis had a 23% lower risk of dementia than those who did not follow the diet.
More research is needed, but the benefits of a Mediterranean diet were found to persist even after taking into account the potential influence of genetics on dementia risk.
If you want to age healthily or reduce your risk of developing dementia, you should start eating more olive oil, less red meat, and more pulses, beans, tomatoes, and fish.
This follows similar findings by American doctors that the MIND diet, which is similar to the Mediterranean diet but places more emphasis on leafy greens, can be beneficial.
According to the findings, those who adhered most closely to the Mediterranean and Mind (MIND) diets, both of which have been shown to promote cognitive health, had a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Chicago’s RUSH University’s Dr. Puja Agarwal noted that even a modest dietary change was associated with a reduction in brain amyloid plaques equivalent to that of being about four years younger.
While we can’t say for sure that people with healthier diets had fewer amyloid plaques in their brains, we can say that there is a correlation between the two.
The MIND and Mediterranean diets have been suggested as a way to protect brain function and mental acuity in later life.
About 850,000 people in the United Kingdom have Alzheimer’s disease, making it the most prevalent form of dementia there.
The accumulation of amyloids and tau proteins in the brain is suspected to be the root cause.
These build up as plaques outside of brain cells or as tangles inside of them.
The most recent research, which was published in Neurology, followed the eating habits of 581 people over the age of 84.
Until they passed away, they were asked annually to fill out questionnaires detailing their food consumption.
Examining the brains of the deceased, scientists counted the number of amyloid plaques and tau tangles.
Brain volume was similar to that of someone 18 years younger among those who scored highest for adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Those who maintained the most MIND skills were, on average, 12 years younger than those who performed the worst.
“Our finding that eating more green leafy vegetables is associated with fewer signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain is intriguing enough for people to consider adding more of these vegetables to their diet,” said Professor Argawal.
However, more research is required to firmly establish our results.
