Keeping your mind healthier can be enhanced by making simple changes to your diet, to help you age with ease.
What causes Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia isn’t really known. A cure for the decline also remains a mystery.
What is known is that genetics can play a strong part in the diseases of the mind, and along with that, lifestyle habits can also affect your mental health.
This article is about eating certain foods to prevent dementia. It can’t prevent it entirely, but good eating is always a good idea. Here’s what researchers found, and how you can incorporate changes into your life, to stay healthy.
Related: Early Signs of Dementia Checklist
Mediterranean Diet
Results from four large studies reported at the 2017 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2017) in London show that what you eat can affect your thinking as you age.
The studies were done by a group of U.S. scientists. They looked at the eating habits of nearly 6,000 older adults and found something quite interesting. It was discovered that those who stuck to something called the MIND diet and a Mediterranean diet had a 30-35% lower risk of developing cognitive impairment as they aged.
Related: What is Frontal Lobe Dementia?
Those who had a diet that included a frequent consumption of non-root vegetables (less carrots and potatoes) and more of things like apples, pears, peaches, pasta and rice, chicken, fish, vegetables, tea and water and a light intake of wine, fared better.
Those who ate a greater amount of refined cereals, butter and margarine, sugars, sweets, pastries and fruit juice had a harder time keeping their thinking fresh, over time.
Eating more foods from this group resulted in more inflammation in the body, which could have contributed to a greater mental decline, as it can affect the brain, too.
For more information on what constitutes a Mediterranean diet, click here to read ideas from the Mayo Clinic. Click here for some best Mediterranean recipes.
Photo credit: FomaA/Bigstock
