Study REVEALS the BEST Diet for Your Brain
I have a love/hate relationship with studies that use dietary questionnaires to determine the benefits of specific foods.
Yes, these studies can give insight into the benefits or harms of certain diets, but there’s just one problem… they rely on someone’s memory. (And you know how that goes.)
Study after study concludes that eating a healthy, well-balanced, whole-food diet supports brain health and reduces the risk of cognitive decline.
But because of the nature of this type of study, the scientists always say that “more research is needed” to verify the results.
Well, the “more” research is FINALLY in, and the results are conclusive…
Eating a healthy diet slows cognitive decline.
And we can finally say that for SURE because, instead of relying on dietary recall, this new study tracked metabolites in the blood to assess what foods people ate.
In people over 65 who didn’t have dementia, researchers measured 72 metabolites to determine how many different components of the Mediterranean diet reached the bloodstream.
Then, they scored them based on the Mediterranean Diet Metabolic Score.
The participants were retested every 2-3 years for 12 years.
The folks who followed the Mediterranean diet the most closely were 10 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment.
These results align with previous studies showing that folks who follow a Mediterranean diet or the MIND diet had fewer Alzheimer’s disease-related biomarkers.
This diet has also been linked to…
- better memory,
- less brain atrophy,
- and slower cognitive aging.
Additionally, the specific metabolites tested (like omega-3s, for example) are linked to better brain health.
And the metabolite enterolactone, which is formed from eating lignans like flax and sesame seeds (common ingredients in this diet), is neuroprotective and enhances memory.
The Mediterranean diet has many components that I FULLY support, such as its focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seeds, olive oil, legumes, fish, and poultry.
The only area in which my opinion differs is the recommendation to limit red meat.
But overall, it’s a well-balanced plan to follow for some guidance on the do’s and don’ts of healthy eating.
Ultimately, this study is the most conclusive, definitive evidence yet that eating a healthy, well-balanced diet can help significantly lower your risk of cognitive decline.
P.S. The lifestyle hack to living LONGER and BETTER!
SOURCE:
“A Mediterranean Diet-Based Metabolomic Score and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: A Case–Control Analysis Nested within the Three-City Cohort Study,” Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, 24 October 2023, doi. org /10.1002/mnfr.202300271
