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By Talker
By Stephen Beech
It’s never too late to start eating better to prevent dementia, according to new research.
People over the age of 45 who followed a dietary pattern known as the MIND diet were “significantly” less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or related forms of dementia, say American scientists.
MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.
It combines the Mediterranean diet with the blood pressure-lowering DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet.
Scientists say it also emphasises proven “brain-healthy” foods such as leafy green vegetables, berries, nuts and olive oil.
The study found that the MIND diet had a stronger and more consistent risk reduction relationship with dementia than other healthy diets, although the relationship varied across five racial groups.
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Participants who improved their adherence to the diet the most over time showed the greatest pattern of risk reduction.
The beneficial relationship was seen similarly among younger and older groups, which the research team says suggests that there are benefits to adopting the diet at any age.
Dr. Song-Yi Park, Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said: “Our study findings confirm that healthy dietary patterns in mid to late life and their improvement over time may prevent Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
“This suggests that it is never too late to adopt a healthy diet to prevent dementia.”
Dr. Park and her colleagues analysed data from more than 90,000 American adults who provided information about their diet, starting in the 1990s.
The participants were between 45 and 75 years old at the outset, and more than 21,000 developed Alzheimer’s or related dementias in the years that followed.
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By Talker
Overall, participants who scored higher for MIND adherence at the start of the study had a 9% lower risk of dementia, with an even greater reduction, of around 13%, among those who identified as African American, Latino or white.
Dr. Park said: “We found that the protective relationship between a healthy diet and dementia was more pronounced among African Americans, Latinos and whites, while it was not as apparent among Asian Americans and showed a weaker trend in Native Hawaiians.”
She added: “A tailored approach may be needed when evaluating different subpopulations’ diet quality.”
The results also showed that people who improved their adherence to MIND over 10 years, including those who didn’t follow the diet closely at first, had a 25% lower risk of dementia compared to those whose adherence declined.
Dr. Park said that trend was consistent across different ages and racial groups.
She added that further studies could help to clarify the patterns.
Dr. Park presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, Florida.