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Brain-Saving Benefits of a Healthy Diet

Brain-Saving Benefits of a Healthy Diet

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Consuming greater amounts of vegetables, berries and fruits, fish and unsaturated fats from milk products in midlife may help to prevent dementia in later years.

Whereas a number of previous studies on the link between diet and dementia have mainly focused on the impact of single dietary components, Marjo Eskelinen, from the University of Eastern Finland (Finland) surveyed 1,449 men and women, ages 39 to 64 years at the study’s start, enrolled in the Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Incidence of Dementia (CAIDE) study, as to their daily food consumptions. The data revealed that a higher intake of saturated fats was linked to poorer cognitive and memory functions and to an increased risk of mild cognitive impairment in a 21-year follow-up. It was also shown that a higher saturated fat intake was associated with an increased risk of dementia among those carrying a genetic risk factor of Alzheimer’s disease, the epsilon 4 variant of the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene.  In addition, those consuming 3 to 5 cups of coffee daily appeared to have a lower risk of dementia as compared to those consuming less or more. 

Eskelinen, Marjo: The effects of midlife diet on late-life cognition: an epidemiological approach. Publications of the University of Eastern Finland. Dissertations in Health Sciences., no 220.