Does the Mediterranean diet really reduce the risks?

THE ESSENTIAL

• The Mediterranean diet includes a high consumption of vegetables, legumes, fruits, fish and healthy fats such as olive oil, and a low consumption of dairy products, meats, saturated fatty acids and ultra-processed foods.
• Rich in vitamins, antioxidants, omega-3 but also fiber – which play an essential role in our health, it is a particularly healthy diet that brings many benefits and reduces, among other things, the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• However, according to this new study, it does not reduce the risk of dementia.

From previous studies, that we have sometimes relayed, suggested that a healthy diet, such as that provided by the Mediterranean diet, may reduce a person’s risk of dementia. But a new studypublished on October 12 in the journal Neurology, contradicts this assertion. It reveals that two diets, including the Mediterranean diet, do not reduce the risk of dementia.

There is no link between diet and dementia according to researchers

“Previous studies on the effects of diet on dementia risk have had mixed results”said study author Isabelle Glans, a researcher at Lund University in Sweden, in a communiqué. “Although our study does not rule out a possible association between diet and dementia, we did not find a link, although the follow-up period was longer and included younger participants than some others. studies, without requiring the volunteers to remember the foods they had eaten regularly years before.”she adds.

For this study, the researchers involved more than 28,000 Swedes. The volunteers had an average age of 58 and did not suffer from dementia at the start of the study. During a 20-year follow-up period, participants completed a questionnaire regarding their eating habits each day of the week and answered an interview.

Cognitive decline: more research is needed

The researchers looked at their responses to see if the participants’ eating habits matched the Mediterranean diet or a diet following conventional dietary recommendations. At the end of the study, 1,943 people, or 6.9%, had been diagnosed with a dementia-related illness, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

Their results show no link between following the Mediterranean diet or a conventional diet and a reduced risk of dementia. Nevertheless, a limitation of the study is the possibility that the participants were wrong in their statements regarding their own eating habits and lifestyle. The study authors stressed that more research is needed to get to the bottom of this.