MINNEAPOLIS -- May 6, 2015 -- People who eat a healthy diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, fish, moderate alcohol use, and not much red meat may be less likely to experience declines in their memory and thinking skills, according to a study published in the May 6, 2015, online issue of the journal Neurology.
“Adoption of a healthy diet probably begins early in life, and a healthy diet might also go along with adoption of other healthy behaviours,” said Andrew Smyth, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
For the study, 27,860 people in 40 countries were followed for an average of about 5 years. All participants were aged 55 years or older and had diabetes or a history of heart disease, stroke or peripheral artery disease. People who had experienced a recent stroke, congestive heart failure, and other serious conditions were not included in the study.
Participants’ thinking and memory skills were tested at the start of the study, after two years and after about five years. Participants were asked at the beginning of the study how often they ate certain types of foods, including fruits and vegetables, nuts and soy proteins, whole grains, deep fried foods and drank alcohol, as well as the ratio of fish to meat and eggs in their diet.
The study participants were followed until they experienced a myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, hospitalisation for congestive heart failure or death from cardiovascular disease or until the end of the study.
The thinking and memory tests yielded total scores with a maximum of 30 points. Participants were considered to have declined in their skills if their scores dropped by 3 or more points during the study. A total of 4,699 people had a decline in their thinking and memory skills.
People with the healthiest diets were 24% less likely to have cognitive decline than people with the least healthy diets. Among the 5,687 people with the healthiest diet, 782 (14%) had cognitive decline, compared with 987 (18%) of the 5,459 people with the least healthy diets.
The results were the same when researchers accounted for other factors that could affect the results, such as physical activity, high blood pressure, and history of cancer.
SOURCE: American Academy of Neurology
