Health Update

Following a Mediterranean diet has been linked to a lower risk of death and chronic diseases, but the association between Mediterranean diet and dementia risk is more controversial.

In the August 12, 2009 issue of Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers report on a study in which higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with slower cognitive decline, but only on one neuropsychological test on a consistent basis.

Columbia University Medical Researchers and their French colleagues studied 1410 French adults who were at least 65 years of age in order to investigate the association between a Mediterranean diet and changes in cognitive performance and the risk for dementia. Each of the study participants underwent 4 neuropsychological tests to evaluate cognitive performance. After adjusting for age, gender, level of education, marital status, and other dementia risk factors, the researchers found that adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with fewer errors on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). However, performance on three other neuropsychological tests was not consistently associated with Mediterranean diet.

The researchers also reported that adherence to a Mediterranean diet was not associated with the risk for incident dementia, however the statistical power of this finding was limited. So, it seems that the association among Mediterranean diet, cognitive decline, and dementia risk still requires further study.

Source:

JAMA. 2009;302(6):638-648.