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7-decade study reveals lifetime of diet on dementia risk
The other day I went into the kitchen and forgot what I had gone in there for. And the week before that, I blanked on the name of someone I’d met at a previous event.
These little lapses wouldn’t bother me so much if I were younger. But the older I get, the more I worry about losing my mental edge. Especially since researchers now suggest that memory problems like these should be taken seriously.
I already do what I can to stay sharp — I eat right, exercise and do plenty of crossword puzzles. But I wonder if the lax lifestyle I had when I was younger will come back to haunt me.
Turns out, I was right to be concerned….
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When do you need to start eating healthy?
Cognitive performance can keep improving well into middle age, but typically begins to decline after the age of 65. Plus, more severe conditions such as dementia can develop alongside these aging-related declines.
However, research has shown that diet plays a major role in whether our brain stays the course or tips toward cognitive decline. Nothing makes that clearer than a nearly seven-decade study…
Researchers collected data from 3,059 U.K. adults, gathered for more than 75 years — since they were children — to measure the impact of their dietary habits on cognition. This is extraordinarily unique as most previous research has focused on the eating habits of people in their 60s and 70s.
The researchers analyzed the participants’ dietary intake at five points in time in relation to their cognitive ability at seven points in time. They found dietary quality was closely linked with trends in global (or general) cognitive ability.
For instance, only 8 percent of people with low-quality diets sustained high cognitive ability over time, while only 7 percent of people with high-quality diets sustained low cognitive ability over time compared to their peers.
The longer you eat healthy, the better your cognition
Most people saw steady improvements in dietary quality throughout adulthood. However, researchers did note that slight differences in diet quality in childhood seemed to set the tone for dietary patterns later in life — for better or worse.
“This suggests that early life dietary intakes may influence our dietary decisions later in life, and the cumulative effects of diet over time are linked with the progression of our global cognitive abilities,” says Dr. Kelly Cara, a recent graduate of the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
“Our findings also provide new evidence suggesting that improvements to dietary patterns up to midlife may influence cognitive performance and help mitigate, or lessen, cognitive decline in later years.”
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In the study, at ages 68-70, participants in the highest cognitive group showed much higher retention of working memory, processing speed and general cognitive performance compared to those in the lowest cognitive group.
In addition, nearly one-quarter of participants in the lowest cognitive group showed signs of dementia by age 68-70, while none of those in the highest cognitive group showed signs of dementia at this point.
Participants who sustained the highest cognitive abilities over time tended to eat more foods recommended in the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, such as vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains. They also consumed less sodium (which can starve your brain of oxygen), added sugars and refined grains.
“Dietary patterns that are high in whole or less processed plant-food groups including leafy green vegetables, beans, whole fruits and whole grains may be most protective,” Cara says. “Adjusting one’s dietary intake at any age to incorporate more of these foods and to align more closely with current dietary recommendations is likely to improve our health in many ways, including our cognitive health.”
One eating plan with proven benefits in supporting a strong mind is the MIND diet, which is largely plant-based and focuses on foods known to boost brain function.
In addition to the foods listed above eaten by the participants with the highest cognitive abilities, The MIND Diet also suggests nuts, berries, poultry, fish and the best fat for brain health — olive oil, which touts dementia-free longevity in half a tablespoon a day!
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Source:
Want to stay mentally sharp longer? Eat a healthy diet now — EurekAlert!
By Carolyn Gretton
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