Healthy Eating Habits and Dementia Prevention: The Key to Slower Aging

2024-03-19 10:19:00
An older woman having lunch (Shutterstock)

It is no secret that a healthy, varied and balanced diet is synonymous with good health in general, as science has supported with all kinds of studies. This research has been joined by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Robert Butler Aging Center at Columbia, who have discovered that having healthy eating habits is related to a lower risk of developing dementia and a slower rate of aging. Slower.

The conclusions of the study have been published in Annals of Neurology, which indicates that the relationship between diet and dementia is mediated, at least partially, by multisystem processes of aging. The study, led by Associate Professor of Epidemiology at both centers Daniel Belsky, explored the hypothesis that a healthy diet might protect once morest dementia by slowing the body’s overall biological aging process.

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The researchers drew on data from the second generation of the Framingham Heart Study, specifically the Offspring Cohort, which began in 1971. Participants in this cohort, all over age 60 and free of dementia at the start of the study, provided information regarding their diet, epigenetic data and underwent regular follow-up. This follow-up included physical examinations, lifestyle questionnaires, blood samples, and, beginning in 1991, neurocognitive testing.

Of the 1,644 participants included in the analysis, 140 developed dementia. To assess the rate of aging, the researchers used an epigenetic clock called DunedinPACE, capable of measuring the rate at which the body experiences deterioration as it ages.

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Yian Gu, PhD, associate professor of Neurological Sciences at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and another of the study’s senior authors, noted that while there is strong evidence that a healthy diet can protect once morest dementia, it is not yet understood. completely how this protection mechanism works.

The findings of this study suggest that multisystem biological aging may be an underlying mechanism in the relationship between diet and dementia. Greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was found to be associated with a slower rate of aging, as measured by DunedinPACE, and also reduced risks of dementia and mortality.

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Aline Thomas, PhD, a postdoc in the Department of Neurology at Columbia, highlighted that although a slower rate of aging explained part of the association between a healthy diet and lower risk of dementia, there are still aspects that need to be explored. This underscores the need for continued research into brain-specific mechanisms in dementia prevention.

Therefore, the team focuses on the need to carry out more observational studies to explore direct associations between nutrients and brain aging. If these findings are confirmed in more diverse populations, monitoring biological aging might be a useful tool for dementia prevention.

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