Experts believe that a combination of nutrients in foods is very important but that diet is not the sole cause or solution where dementia is concerned.
The foods we choose to eat may determine our risk of dementia, sticking to a diet rich in nuts, fish and vegetables significantly cuts the chance of developing Alzheimer’s, BBC health reported. A ‘Mediterranean diet’ containing plenty of fresh produce and less high- fat dairy and red meat has long been thought to improve general health. Dr Yian Gu and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Centre in the US studied the diets of 2,148 retirement-age adults. Over the four years of the study, 253 of these older adults developed Alzheimer’s disease. When the researchers scrutinised the diets of all of the individuals in the study, a pattern emerged. Adults whose diets included more salad dressing, nuts, fish, poultry, fruits and green leafy vegetables, and less high-fat dairy, red meat and butter, were far less likely to develop dementia. Understanding the connection between diet and dementia risk may help prevent the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s for some people but it is the varying levels of specific nutrients that these food combinations offer that is important, say the researchers. `Diets rich in omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, vitamin E and folate but low in saturated fat and vitamin B12 appear to be best. Experts have long suspected that nutrients might modify dementia risk. Similarly, vitamin E might be protective via its strong antioxidant effect, while monosaturated and saturated fatty acids could increase dementia risk by encouraging blood clot formation, say the researchers. With 35 million people worldwide living with dementia, it is important to focus efforts on research to develop new treatments.
