Alzheimers Disease Prevention

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

A heart-healthy diet may also guard against cognitive decline.

THE QUESTION: Adhering to a so-called Mediterranean diet — lots of fruit, vegetables and fish, and little poultry, meat and dairy products — appears to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Might what's good for the heart also be good for the brain?

Information

Learn more about Alzheimer's disease: at http://www.alz.org/ and www.alzinfo.org.

THIS STUDY followed 2,258 older people (average age, 77) with normal mental faculties, recording what they ate and periodically assessing their cognitive abilities. In a four-year period, 262 of them were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The more closely people followed a Mediterranean diet, the less likely they were to have Alzheimer's.
Compared with those who followed the diet the least, people in the mid-range of adherence had Alzheimer's 15 percent less often, and those who followed the eating pattern the closest were 40 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer's.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS? Older people. About 10 percent of those over 65 and about half of people older than 85 have Alzheimer's. The number of Americans with the disease, currently about 4 ½ million, is expected to grow to as many as 16 million in the next 15 years.

CAVEATS: The study did not address the effects of following a Mediterranean diet earlier in life.

FIND THIS STUDY: April 18 online issue of Annals of Neurology; abstract available at www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/ana

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