Could food play a decisive role in the fight against dementia? And especially against the best known, Alzheimer’s disease?
According to a study carried out on nearly 93,000 American adults, the Mind diet is associated with a clear reduction in the risk of developing this disease and other forms of dementia.
What is the Mind diet?
Acronym of Mediterranean-Dash Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, the Mind diet combines the principles of the Mediterranean regime, recognized for its cardioprotective effects, with those of the DASH diet, recommended to control hypertension.
The Mind diet encourages the regular consumption of green leafy vegetables, berries such as blueberries, fatty fish, nuts, full cereals, legumes, olive oil … while limiting ultra-transformed products, red meat and added sugars.
This nutritional program also seems particularly beneficial against Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study.
A reduced risk of 9% of developing Alzheimer’s
For this work, published by theAmerican Society for Nutritionthe researchers analyzed data from the multiethnic cohort study, an American cohort initiated in the 1990s.
Participants were aged 45 to 75 at the start and were followed for several decades. Among them, more than 21,000 have developed a form of dementia over the years.
Data analysis shows that people who have obtained a high score of compliance with the Mind diet from the start had an average reduced risk of 9 % to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
But the impact went far beyond for certain groups. “”We found that the protective relationship between a healthy diet and dementia was more pronounced among African-Americans, Latinos and whites “ Specifies Professor Song-Yi Park, from the University of Hawaii to Manoa, co-author of the study.
What the study on the Mind diet shows and the risk of dementia
Indeed, among these populations, membership of the regime was even associated with a 13 % reduction in risk. On the other hand, the effect seemed more attenuated among Americans of Asian origin and Aboriginal Hawaiians.
According to the researchers, this disparity could be explained by cultural differences in eating habits. “”A personalized approach may be necessary when assessing the quality of the food of different subpopulations“Says Professor Park.
Visible benefits regardless of age or origins
However, one of the most significant observations of the study lies in the cumulative effect of a progressive change in eating habits. In other words, participants who have improved their diet over ten years were the main beneficiaries. And surprise: even if they were not exemplary at the start, they benefited from a 25 % reduction in the risk of dementia, all origins and all ages combined.
This data highlights an important dynamic: continuous improvement in food produces sustainable protective effects, regardless of the age of entry into the diet.
This means that it is not necessary to follow a strict diet for decades to take advantage of it. Even a late transition to a food more favorable to brain health can bear fruit. “”This trend was constant according to ages and racial groups “ Recalls Song-Yi Park again, specifying that these results must however be interpreted with caution. The study remains observational, and interventional research will be necessary to confirm the cause and effect link.
Why the Mind diet could become a key prevention tool
This is not the first study confirming its benefits, on Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, one of its major advantages is its simplicity: its components are easy to integrate into eating habits, without recourse to exotic or difficult to obtain food. It is therefore more a rebalancing than a deprivation, which could explain its long -term effectiveness.
However, the study has not yet been published in a scientific journal with a reading committee, but simply presented at the annual scientific congress of the American nutrition company, which was held from June 31 to June 3 in Orlando.