Dig in to those grains and greens.
It’s hardly news that a Mediterranean-style diet is healthy, but it turns out it may have one specific benefit we should all pay attention to.
A new study has shown that people who follow it most closely have “almost 40% lower odds” of developing enough sticky beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles in their brains to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
The accumulation of these plaques may cause alterations in the brain that lead to the development of the condition.
The study examined 581 older adults with an average age of 84, all of whom consented to have their brains examined when they died. Every year until then, they completed questionnaires detailing what they ate.
On average, the participants died seven years after the study began. More than a third (39 percent) had a dementia diagnosis by then, and upon examination, two-thirds (66 percent) met the diagnostic criteria.
“People who scored highest for adhering to the Mediterranean diet had average plaque and tangle amounts in their brains similar to being 18 years younger than people who scored lowest,” according to a statement in the study. “Researchers also found people who scored highest for adhering to the MIND diet had average plaque and tangle amounts similar to being 12 years younger than those who scored lowest.”
No need for extreme measures
In even better news, there’s no need to perform a drastic dietary overhaul to reap major benefits. Simply adding whatever vegetables, fruits, grains, and fats like olive oil that are most readily available to you to your existing diet could make a real difference.
“Doing a simple dietary modification, such as adding more greens, berries, whole grains, olive oil and fish, can actually delay your onset of Alzheimer’s disease or reduce your risk of dementia when you’re growing old,” study author Puja Agarwal, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said per CNN.
“Our finding that eating more green leafy vegetables is in itself 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,” she stressed.
She added that while the best addition is probably leafy greens, adding any of these foods to your regular rotation is worthwhile. Legumes, nuts, fish, and poultry all count as well.
As Alzheimer’s disease researcher Dr. Richard Isaacson notes per CNN, it’s important to bear in mind that the study’s findings don’t definitively prove a causal link — it’s just that the data is strong enough to suggest that following a Mediterranean diet is a worthwhile measure.
