Special diet protects against Alzheimer's

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Developing Alzheimer's disease is a terrible thought for most people. But it doesn't have to come to that: the right diet apparently protects against Alzheimer's. Even if the eating plan is not always followed exactly.

How foods consumed every day affect brain function has long been the subject of many studies. Martha Clare Morris from Rush University (USA) and her colleagues now wanted to know how diet specifically affects the risk of Alzheimer's. Through their investigation, they were even able to derive certain dietary rules that, in their opinion, can most effectively protect against this form of dementia.

Healthy and unhealthy foods

The scientists call the resulting form of nutrition “MIND diet”, short for “Mediterranean DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay”. This diet is based on 15 food groups. Ten of them promote brain health:

• whole grain products
• green leafy vegetables
• vegetables
• Beans
• nuts
• Berry
• fish
• poultry
• olive oil
• Wine

The remaining five groups are considered unhealthy and should be consumed as rarely as possible:

• Red meat
• Butter and margarine
• cheese
• Sweets and pastries
• Fried and fast food

Questionnaires on nutrition should provide information

Morris and her team came up with these dietary recommendations by surveying over 900 subjects between the ages of 58 and 98 at regular intervals about their diet - an average of 4.5 years. A total of 144 study participants developed Alzheimer's disease during this time.

To evaluate the questionnaires, the scientists gave points to all foods: they awarded points for healthy “brain food” and deducted some for unhealthy food. Using the total number of points, the researchers were able to see how healthy the respective participant had eaten. The rule was: the higher the score, the more the diet corresponded to the MIND diet. “Then we compared the risk of Alzheimer's for participants whose total score was in the lower third with those whose scores were in the middle and higher range,” Morris told

53 percent reduced risk

The result: The risk of Alzheimer's disease was reduced by up to 53 percent in subjects with a high score compared to subjects who had few scores.

It turned out that the positive effect of a diet in the sense of MIND apparently increased over time: "The longer the better," says Morris. The particularly exciting thing, however, is that test subjects whose diet only complied with the MIND diet now and then had a significantly reduced risk - by a whopping 35 percent, she adds. "I think that motivates people."

The researchers considered factors that are known to promote dementia, such as obesity, lack of physical activity or smoking, in their calculation.

Further studies needed

"We have developed a diet that showed a good protective effect against Alzheimer's," says Morris. She recommends a healthy diet and sufficient exercise for everyone. Nevertheless, she believes it is appropriate to deepen the effect in further studies.

Alzheimer's is the most common type of dementia. In Germany alone, around 1.2 million people are affected. However, experts estimate that this number will double by 2030. Alzheimer's is characterized by a weak memory that increases over time and leads to a complete loss of judgment and personality.

Sources:

Morris M.C. et al .: MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's & Dementia - the journal of the Alzheimer's Association. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2014.11 .009

Press release of the Rush University Medical Center from March 16, 2015

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