Mediterranean diet reduces brain shrinkage in old age

  • The Mediterranean diet is the diet most associated with cognitive and health benefits in older adults.
  • A new study has found larger brain volumes among those following this sort of diet, equivalent to that of brains five years younger.
  • Much of this was associated with two components of the diet in particular: eating fish regularly, and eating less meat.

Another study adds to the growing evidence that a Mediterranean diet is good for the aging brain.

The New York study used data from 674 non-demented older adults (average age 80). It found that those who closely followed such a diet showed significantly less brain shrinkage. Specifically, total brain volume was an average 13.11 milliliters greater, with grey matter volume 5 millilitres greater, and white matter 6.4 millilitres greater.

Eating at least five of the recommended Mediterranean diet components was associated with benefits equivalent to five years of age. By far the most important of these components was regular fish and reduced meat intake — at least 3 to 5 ounces of fish weekly; no more than 3.5 ounces of meat daily.

This is consistent with a considerable amount of research indicating the benefits of fish in fighting age-related cognitive decline.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/21/mediterranean-diet-may-slow-the-ageing-process-by-five-years

Reference: 

Related News

A study involving 218 participants aged 18-88 has looked at the effects of age on the brain activity of participants viewing an edited version of a 1961 Hitchcock TV episode (given that participants viewed the movie while in a MRI machine, the 25 minute episode was condensed to 8 minutes).

A study involving 100 healthy older adults (aged 60-80) has found that those with higher levels of physical activity showed more variable spontaneous brain activity in certain brain regions (including the

A ten-year study involving 2,092 older adults (average age 76) has found that people tended to lose awareness of memory problems two to three years before the onset of dementia.

A large, five-year study challenges the idea that omega-3 fatty acids can slow age-related cognitive decline.

A large, two-year study challenges the evidence that regular exercise helps prevent age-related cognitive decline.

A study involving 97 healthy older adults (65-89) has found that those with the “Alzheimer’s gene” (APOe4) who didn’t engage in much physical activity showed a decrease in hippocampal volume (3%) over 18 months.

An Indian study involving 648 dementia patients, of whom 391 were bilingual, has found that, overall, bilingual patients developed dementia 4.5 years later than the monolingual ones. There was no additional advantage to speaking more than two languages.

A study, involving 371 patients with mild cognitive impairment, has found that those with depressive symptoms had higher levels of amyloid-beta, particularly in the frontal cortex and the anterior and posterior

A study involving 206 spousal and adult children caregivers of dementia sufferers (mostly Alzheimer’s) has found that about 84% of caregivers reported a clinically significant burden. Three factors were significant contributors to the burden:

A study involving 254 people with dementia living at home has found that 99% of people with dementia and 97% of their caregivers had one or more unmet needs, 90% of which were safety-related.

Pages

Subscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest newsSubscribe to Latest health newsSubscribe to Latest news
Error | About memory

Error

The website encountered an unexpected error. Please try again later.