HEALTH NEWS

Study Title:

Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced brain shrinkage in older people, study finds.

Study Abstract

A Mediterranean-style diet may be associated with losing fewer brain cells from ageing, a study in the journal Neurology has found.1

The study, carried out by researchers at Columbia University in New York, USA, looked at 674 people with an average age of 80 who did not have dementia and who were included in an ongoing study of ageing and dementia (the Washington Heights-Inwood Community Aging Project; WHICAP).

The participants completed questionnaires about their diet over the past year and then had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans an average of seven months after the questionnaire. They were divided into two groups on the basis of how closely their dietary habits followed the Mediterranean diet principles: those who followed these principles in at least five food components (either higher consumption of healthy foods or lower consumption of unhealthy foods) and those who did not.

A Mediterranean diet in the study included a high intake of vegetables, legumes, fruit, cereals, fish, and monounsaturated fatty acids such as olive oil, as well as a low intake of saturated fatty acids, dairy products, meat, and poultry, and a mild to moderate intake of alcohol.