The link between a Mediterranean diet and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease is well known. Now the famous eating habits of the region have been investigated in regard to the development of dementia and have once more been shown to be very beneficial to health, De Morgen reports.
Researchers from Exeter University and Newcastle University in the UK analysed the data of more than 60,000 British people over 60 years old who had donated all kinds of medical data and biological data to the UK Biobank since 2009.
Between 2010 and 2012, they completed a questionnaire five times. On a long list of 238 types of food and beverages, they ticked off what they had eaten and drunk in the 24 hours before taking the test. A sample five years later showed that this was representative of their diet in the years that followed.
Grading eating habits
Participants were given a point if their eating behaviour fell within the healthy Mediterranean diet. For example, they got a point when they ate at least 400 grams of vegetables a day, another point for at least three pieces of fruit a day, again for nuts at least three times a week, one when they drank a glass of soda at most once a day, and another point when they ate sweets or pastries less than twice a week.
Interestingly, participants also got a point when they drank seven or more glasses of wine a week, and even other alcoholic beverages could earn them points. This is noteworthy since the idea that a glass of wine a day would be healthy has been outdated for years. Scientists do agree that not drinking alcohol at all is better.
In 2021 – more than ten years after the start of the study – 882 of the participants were found to have developed dementia. The researchers divided the participants into three groups: Those with a low, a medium or a high score.
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The study shows that in the group that best adhered to the Mediterranean diet, the risk of dementia was 14 to 23% lower than in the group that adhered to that diet the least. According to the researchers, this indicates that a Mediterranean diet has a "protective effect" against dementia.
The link also seems to apply to people with a hereditary predisposition to dementia. Although lead author John Mathers, professor of human nutrition at Newcastle University, stressed that this needs to be investigated further. "While more research is needed in this area, it reinforces the message that we can reduce the risk of dementia by following a more Mediterranean diet."
A disadvantage of the study is that it only examined white British and Irish people over 60 years of age from higher socio-economic classes. As a result, the results of the study cannot be translated to people with other backgrounds.
