Food For Thought

Brain health can feel both urgent and hard to actually address proactively. What, exactly, can one do other than ‘stress less’ or ‘exercise’ more to reduce the risk of something like dementia? A new Nature Medicine study points to another potential answer: the Mediterranean diet. 

The Study: Researchers combined diet, genetics, and blood metabolomics from two long-running U.S. cohorts: 4,215 women in the Nurses’ Health Study (1981-2023) and 1,490 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1993-2023). Diet was tracked by food-frequency questionnaires; blood was analyzed for hundreds of metabolites; genetic risk (including APOE status) was assessed; dementia diagnoses and telephone-based cognitive tests were followed over time. Greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet was linked to a lower risk of dementia and better cognitive performance, with the strongest protective association seen in those most at risk for dementia. 

The Takeaway: Even with high genetic risk, eating Mediterranean was associated with slower cognitive decline and lower dementia risk. To incorporate the diet into your own life — build plates around plants, whole grains, beans, nuts, olive oil, and fish. 

Keep In Mind: This is observational evidence (associations do not equal proof). Participants were mostly well-educated and of European ancestry, so results need replication for more diverse groups.