A new study suggests that consuming a traditional Mediterranean-style diet rich in seafood, fruit, and nuts may reduce the risk of dementia by nearly a quarter.
Experts from Newcastle University discovered that those who consumed a diet similar to the Mediterranean had a 23% lower risk of developing dementia than those who did not.
This study, published today in BMC Medicine, is one of the largest of its kind, as previous research has typically been limited to small sample sizes and a small number of dementia cases.
Researchers analyzed dietary assessment data from 60,298 individuals from the UK Biobank, a large cohort comprised of individuals from across the UK.
“We used Cox proportional hazard regression models to explore the associations between MedDiet adherence, defined using two different scores (Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener [MEDAS] continuous and Mediterranean diet Pyramid [PYRAMID] scores), and incident all-cause dementia risk in 60,298 participants from UK Biobank, followed for an average 9.1 years,” according to researchers.
“Higher adherence to a MedDiet was associated with lower dementia risk, independent of genetic risk, underlining the importance of diet in dementia prevention interventions.”
