Prevent Alzheimer's, other forms of dementia and other memory-related diseases with the Mediterranean diet. I study.
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousPrevent Alzheimer's, other forms of dementia and other memory-related diseases with the Mediterranean diet. A diet rich above all in vegetables and olive oil could in fact protect the brain from the accumulation of proteins and from shrinking and thus lead to a significant reduction in the drugs taken.
According to a research published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, which examined in particular amyloid, a protein that forms in plaques, and tau which instead has the characteristic of forming tangles. Both reside both in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease and in the brains of older but healthy people.
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"Our study suggests that a diet high in unsaturated fats, fish, fruit, vegetables and in turn low in dairy and meat may actually protect the brain from protein buildup that leads to memory loss and dementia," explains the author of the paper. study Tommaso Ballarini, doctoral student of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn. These results show that what you eat can affect your memory skills later on "
A systematic review
512 people were investigated, of whom only 169 were cognitively normal. The remaining 343 were at "higher risk of being able to develop Alzheimer's disease or memory problems".
To start, the participants answered a questionnaire where they were asked how many times in the previous month they had eaten healthy foods and related to the Mediterranean diet (a total of 148 products). People who often ate healthy foods typical of the Mediterranean diet, such as fish, vegetables and fruit, and only occasionally foods not typical of the Mediterranean diet, such as red meat, received the highest scores, with a maximum score of nine.
Cognitive abilities were assessed with a large set of Alzheimer's disease progression tests that looked at five different functions, including language, memory, and executive function. All participants underwent brain scans to determine their brain volume. In addition, the spinal fluid of 226 participants was tested for biomarkers of tau and amyloid protein.
The researchers then examined how well someone followed the Mediterranean diet and the relationship with brain volume, tau and amyloid biomarkers, and cognitive abilities. After adjusting for factors such as age, gender, and education, the researchers found that in the area of the brain most closely associated with Alzheimer's disease, each lower point of people's scores on the Mediterranean diet scale was almost one year of brain aging.
By looking at amyloid and tau in people's spinal fluid, those who did not follow the diet had higher levels of biomarkers of amyloid and tau pathology than those who did.
When it came to a memory test, people who didn't follow the diet scored worse than those who did.
“More research is needed to show the mechanism by which a Mediterranean diet protects the brain from protein buildup and loss of brain function, but the results suggest that people can reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's by incorporating more elements. of the Mediterranean diet in their diets “, concludes Ballarini.
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