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New research links Mediterranean diet to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease

May 20, 2021

New research by German scientists investigated whether a Mediterranean-like diet impacted cognitive function and risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
The study team assessed the dietary habits of 512 participants with an average age of around 70 years.
Researchers determined that adherence to a Mediterranean-shaped diet resulted in better memory function and protection from Alzheimer’s risk factors such as protein buildup and brain atrophy.

A recent study conducted by DZNE researchers showed that a Mediterranean diet may help protect the brain from disease triggers of Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease characterized by worsening dementia (loss of cognitive functioning). About 6 million Americans and approximately 44 million people around the world live with this debilitating condition. The disease arises from the death of brain neurons caused by an abnormal buildup of proteins in the brain, and the rapid loss of brain matter. Key symptoms include disorientation, memory loss, agitation, and challenging behaviors. The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional foods that people in Mediterranean nations such as Greece and Italy used to eat in the 1960s. It consists of a higher intake of vegetables, fruits, legumes, fish, cereals, and monounsaturated fatty acids such as olive oil. It also entails a low intake of red meat, dairy products, and saturated fatty acids. DZNE is an abbreviation for the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. It is a broad, interdisciplinary research body that investigates the causes of neurodegenerative diseases and develops novel strategies for prevention, treatment, and care. The new research was funded by the Diet-Body-Brain, a competence cluster that specializes in nutrition research under the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Findings were published in May 2021 in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology The research team was led by Professor Michael Wagner, who heads the Neuropsychology unit at the DZNE and is also a senior psychologist at the memory clinic of the University Hospital Bonn. “People in the second half of life have constant eating habits. We analyzed whether the study participants regularly eat a Mediterranean diet – and whether this might have an impact on brain health,” said Professor Wagner. A total of 512 participants with an average age of around 70 years were involved in the study. 169 of them were of sound cognitive health while 343 were in the high-risk group for developing Alzheimer’s disease due to various factors. The subjects were presented with a questionnaire where they indicated which portions of 148 different foods they had consumed in previous months. Individuals who seemed to focus on healthy Mediterranean options such as fish, fruits, and vegetables – and only occasionally integrated options such as red meat – scored highly. MRI brain scans were then performed to investigate brain shrinking. Additional neuropsychological tests were conducted to assess cognitive abilities like memory function. Nearly half of the participants were tested for biomarker levels of proteins responsible for the brain plaque that kills neurons and contributes to Alzheimer’s. Researchers found that study participants who consumed an unhealthy diet had higher pathological levels of these proteins in their cerebrospinal fluid compared to those who focused on a Mediterranean-shaped diet. Participants who ate unhealthily also performed worse in the memory tests than those who regularly consumed fish and vegetables. “There was also a significant positive correlation between a closer adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet and a higher volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus is an area of the brain that is considered the control center of memory. It shrinks early and severely in Alzheimer’s disease,” simplified Tommaso Ballarini, a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Wagner’s research group and the lead author of the study. The German scientists established that regularly eating a Mediterranean diet (possibly) protected the brain from atrophy and protein deposits that trigger memory loss and dementia. More work however needs to be carried out to determine the biological mechanism(s) underlying these findings. The team now plans to re-examine the same study subjects after 4-5 years to explore how nutrition affects brain aging over time.

References: https://www.dzne.de/en/news/press-releases/press/dzne-alzheimers-study-a-mediterranean-diet-might-protect-against-memory-loss-and-dementia/

New research links Mediterranean diet to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease

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