After the great days thinking back to the diet!
Study: Olive oil and vegetables protect against mental deterioration in old age
When the foolish days of Carnival are over, the exuberant mood is usually followed by a hangover and the resolution to treat one's body better again. A recent American study offers good, new arguments for a Mediterranean diet: Olive oil, vegetables & Co. counteract the decline in mental performance that goes along with age and even delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
"This is an important study with high everyday relevance," comments Prof. Dr. Matthias Endres from the German Society for Neurology the work. It has long been known that a Mediterranean diet has positive effects on the cardiovascular system.
The risk of developing Alzheimer's increases with age. A preliminary stage (called: Mild cognitive impairment", short: MCI) brings forgetfulness, but also limitations in attention and body control. Apparently, the right diet can reduce the risk, as doctors around neurologist Nikolas Scarmeas from the Columbia Medical Center University in New York.The so-called Mediterranean diet, which means the consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruit, unsaturated fats, mostly olive oil, fish and moderate consumption of alcohol, proved to be positive, while at the same time avoiding animal fats and meat .
"These results support the assumption that a Mediterranean or similar diet influences the risk of MCI manifesting or progressing to Alzheimer's disease," conclude Nikolas Scarmeas' team of physicians. All in all, however, the positive effects of a healthy diet on MCI have by no means been sufficiently investigated, especially the possible biological mechanisms on which the protective effect is based.
"Even if a causal connection between the Mediterranean diet and the possible development of dementia has not been proven here, it is still an important study with high everyday relevance," says Prof. Dr. Matthias Endres, Head of the Center for Stroke Research and Director of the Clinic for Neurology at the Charité in Berlin. "One thing is certain: a Mediterranean diet is definitely a good recommendation for doing good for the heart and brain in the long term."
Further details of the study: The results have been published in the renowned journal "Archives of Neurology" [1]. The researchers examined 1875 people with an average age of 76,9 years and used a questionnaire to determine whether they adhered little (zero) or strongly (nine) to a Mediterranean diet on a scale from zero to nine. After an observation period of 4,5 years, 275 of the 1393 healthy volunteers showed symptoms of MCI. The risk for this clearly correlated with diet. Of the 482 patients with MCI, 106 developed Alzheimer's after 4,3 years. Again, the risk was related to diet.
Which
[1] Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD; Yaakov Stern, PhD; Richard Mayeux, MD; Jennifer J Manly, PhD; Nicole Schupf, PhD; Jose A. Luchsinger, MD: Mediterranean Diet and Mild Cognitive Impairment, Arch Neurol. 2009;66(2):216-225.
Source: Berlin [DGN]
