According to a recent study, published yesterday, eating a Mediterranean style diet with lots of vegetables and fruit keeps your brain younger, as reported on CNN.
According to the researchers, “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”. They 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.
If you are covering this, we have expert comment available from nutrition and mental health expert Patrick Holford, who is Founder of the charitable Food for the Brain Foundation, where he directs their Alzheimer’s prevention project.
Patrick says:
“This study says that adding just one food category from either the Mediterranean or the MIND diet — such as eating recommended amounts of vegetables or fruits — reduced amyloid build-up in the brain to a level similar to being about four years younger. The greatest result was found with those eating greens. Those in the top third of ‘greens consumption’ had substantially less Alzheimer’s related pathology that those in the lowest third – not eating their greens.
“Those with a healthy diet have seven times less risk of developing dementia compared to those eating an average diet, according to another study last month in the British Medical Journal. This is completely consistent with foodforthebrain.org’s free on-line Dementia Risk Index questionnaire which assesses a person’s risk and asks specific questions about diet, including eating greens. Their test includes a Cognitive Function Test which measures actual cognition so you can gauge your brain age. It then advises you what to do to keep your brain young and healthy.”
Feel free to use this quote in whole or in part or please do get in touch if you would like an interview or any further comment / information.
Food for the Brain has been carrying out extensive research and working actively for 10 years to help people reduce their risk of age-related cognitive decline.
Further information is available from www.patrickholford.com and https://foodforthebrain.org/.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
