March 9, 2023

The French are more and more interested in what is on their plate. And they are right. THE links between health and nutrition have been demonstrated repeatedly. Obesity, cancer, cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes, eating healthy reduces the risk of many pathologies. Among them is also Alzheimer’s disease.

A recent study investigated the impact MIND and Mediterranean diets on this neurodegenerative disease. Indeed, these two diets, renowned for health, would help reduce the plaques and tangled fibers present in the brain, when a person has Alzheimer’s. The study results were published in the March 8, 2023 online issue of the journal. Neurology.

66% of participants were likely to have Alzheimer’s

For this study, the researchers analyzed the diets of 581 people aged 84 on average. The volunteers had all agreed to do brain donation upon death, to advance dementia research. For this research, the participants had to answer questionnaires each year concerning their food consumption in various categories.

Volunteers have died an average of seven years following the start of the study. Just before their death, 39% of participants had been diagnosed with dementia. During a postmortem examination, 66% of them were likely to have Alzheimer’s disease. To find out, scientists examined their brains following they died, to detect the amounts of amyloid plaques (aggregates that form around neurons in neurodegenerative diseases) and tangles (caused by the breakdown of tau proteins). Both are found in the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s diseasebut may also be present in older people with normal cognition.

MIND and Mediterranean diets: the experts evaluated the diet of the participants

Participants were scored on their consumption of foods considered healthy by each of the two diets. For the Mediterranean diet, 11 food categories have been selected. Participants received a score of zero to 55, with some higher scores if they adhered to the diet. On the contrary, consuming bad foods like red meat made them lose points.

For the MIND diet, 15 categories were chosen. Participants received a score of zero to 15 As with the Mediterranean diet, participants lost points by consuming foods considered unhealthy (sweets, fried foods, etc.). Thus, for each of the plans, people with the highest score were those who ate the healthiest and most adhered to one or the other of the diets. The researchers then divided the participants into three groups for each diet to compare those from the highest groups to those of the lowest groups.

For the Mediterranean diet, people in the highest group had an average score of 35 while those in the lowest group had an average score of 26. For the MIND diet, the highest group had an average score of 9 while the lowest group had an average score of 6.

Mediterranean diet: a brain up to 18 years younger

After taking many factors into account (age at the time of death, gender, education, etc.), the researchers discovered that people who adhered the most to the Mediterranean diet had average amounts of plaque and tangle in their brains. The latter seemed like this 18 years younger than in people with the lowest scores for the Mediterranean diet.

On the MIND diet, those most adhering to this diet had similar average amounts of plaques and tangles 12 years younger than those with the lowest scores.

“Although our research does not prove that a healthy diet leads to less brain deposits of amyloid plaques, also known as an indicator of Alzheimer’s disease, we know there is a relationship, and following the MIND and Mediterranean diets might be a way for people improve their brain health and protect cognition as they age“, conclude the researchers. Thus, Medisite presents to you 7 foods advocated by these two healthy diets.