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It’s never too late to start eating better to prevent dementia, according a new analysis of research involving 90,000 adults.
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, said the University of Hawaii scientists.
The MIND diet stands for Mediterranean Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and was developed by the late Martha Clare Morris, ScD, a Rush University nutritional epidemiologist. It combines the traditional Mediterranean diet with the blood pressure-lowering DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).
It includes proven ‘brain-healthy’ foods such as leafy green vegetables, berries, nuts, fish, 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 for the majority of racial groups in the study.
Participants who improved their adherence to the diet the most over time showed the greatest pattern of risk reduction.
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.
The beneficial relationship was seen similarly among younger and older groups, which suggests that there are benefits to adopting the diet at any age.
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“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,” said Dr. Song-Yi Park, Associate Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
“This suggests that it is never too late to adopt a healthy diet to prevent dementia.”
Dr. Park and her colleagues analyzed data from more than 90,000 American adults who provided information about their diet, starting in the 1990s.
Credit: Irina del
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.
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.
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Dr. Park said that trend was consistent across different ages and racial groups.
However, the protective relationship between a healthy diet and dementia was not as apparent among Asian Americans and even less so for Native Hawaiians.
“A tailored approach may be needed when evaluating different subpopulations’ diet quality,” said Park, who added that further studies could help clarify those patterns.
Dr. Park presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Orlando, Florida, on June 2.