A study published in Neurology shows that consuming a Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, and healthy fats reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other degenerative brain conditions.
For the current study, researchers focused on elderly people with normal cognitive function to see if the diet might also be tied to losing fewer brain cells due to aging. To understand the relationship between the diet and brain health, the researchers reviewed surveys that 674 elderly people completed about their eating habits and then examined magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of their brains.
They found that compared to the people who didn’t regularly follow many aspects of the Mediterranean diet, the participants who adhered to this way of eating more often had larger total brain volume, as well as more gray and white matter. Higher fish intake and lower meat consumption, one aspect of a Mediterranean diet, was tied to larger total gray matter volume on the brain scans. Eating less meat was also independently associated with larger total brain volume.
The researchers concluded that overall, the difference in brain volume between the people who followed a Mediterranean diet and those who didn’t was similar to the effect of five years. However, the researchers noted that the study can’t show whether the diet actually causes less brain atrophy over time. It’s also hard to separate the effect of eating more fish from the impact of consuming less meat.
