|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Alzheimer's Risk Lowered by Mediterranean Diet in
Study
April 18, 2006 - Americans who ate a Mediterranean
diet--lots of fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals, some fish and
alcohol, and little dairy and meat--had a reduced risk for Alzheimer's
disease as they aged. These findings are published in the April issue of
Annals of Neurology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons.
| |
Related Stories |
|
| |
New Genetic Cause of Alzheimer's Found
Study
says quantity of amyloid protein is key to early dementia
April 19,2006 - Researchers from Belgium are today
claiming to be the first to show that the quantity of amyloid protein in
brain cells is a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid
protein has been known to be the primary component of the senile plaques
in the brains of patients. The new discovery demonstrates that the
greater the quantity of the protein that is produced, the younger the
patient is when dementia develops.
Read more...
Study Supports Evidence of Adding Fatty Acid to
Diet May Protect Against Alzheimer's Disease
Sept. 1, 2004 There is nothing more feared by
senior citizens than Alzheimers Disease and the evidence continues to
mount that by adding fish to your diet you may be able to avoid the
disease. A new study released today takes a closer look at how this
protection works. (See links to other stories on fatty acid below
story.)
Read More...
Vitamin E in Diet May Reduce Alzheimer's Disease Risk
July 3, 2002 - A new population-based study of antioxidants, appearing in the "Journal of the American Medical Association" ("JAMA"), suggests that a diet rich in foods containing vitamin E may help protect some people against Alzheimer's disease (AD). The study is also noteworthy for its finding that vitamin E in the form of supplements was not associated with a reduction in the risk of AD. The latest in a series of reports on vitamin E and dementia, the study findings heighten interest in the outcome of clinical trials now underway to test the effectiveness of vitamin E and other antioxidants in preventing or postponing cognitive decline and AD.
Read more...
Read more
on
Alzheimer's & Dementia |
|
Experts theorize that diet may play a role in the
development of Alzheimer's disease but epidemiological data on diet and
Alzheimer's is conflicting and while individual foods and nutrients have
been previously studied, general dietary patterns have not. To address
this paucity of data, researchers led by Nikolaos Scarmeas of Columbia
University Medical Center, designed a prospective community-based study
of 2,258 non-demented people in New York City.
The subjects were part of the Washington Heights-Inwood
Columbia Aging project, and for each, the researchers gathered medical
and neurological history, did a standardized physical and neurological
exam, and conducted an in-person interview to assess health and
neuropsychological function. This information was used to diagnose a
presence or absence of dementia. Subjects were reassessed approximately
every 18 months for an average of 4 years.
The researchers also obtained dietary data from
each subject using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire.
They determined a Mediterranean Diet score (0-9) based on a previously
described method. During the course of the study, 262 members of the
study population were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
"Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was
associated with significantly lower risk of developing Alzheimer's
disease," the authors report.
For each additional point to Mediterranean diet
scores (indicating increased adherence to the diet), Alzheimer's risk
dropped by 9 to 10 percent.
Compared with the subjects in the least adherent
group that adhered to a Mediterranean diet the least, subjects in the
middle had 15 to 21 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer's
disease, and those in the highest group had a 39 to 40 percent lower
risk, suggesting a significant dose response effect.
The association remained significant even after
adjusting for potential confounders such as age, gender, ethnicity,
education, caloric intake, BMI, smoking and comorbid conditions.
One possible limitation of this study is the
inaccurate measurement of subjects' diets, though the researchers used a
previously developed and tested dietary assessment, and suggest that
mismeasurements may have actually caused an underestimation of the
association.
Also, disease misclassification is a possible
limitation, though the diagnosis was made by experienced practitioners
and was based on comprehensive assessment and standard criteria. Subtle
changes in dietary habits as a result of early Alzheimer's symptoms,
although another potential limitation, did not seem to be the case since
adherence to the Mediterranean diet was found to be quite stable.
"We conclude that higher adherence to the
Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduction in risk for
Alzheimer's disease," they say.
In addition, they say that the beneficial effects
of the Mediterranean diet for non-neurological conditions have been
previously shown to be generalized to different populations, and that
the current study provided the opportunity to examine the effect of this
diet for a neurological disease in a multiethnic community in the U.S.
About Study:
The study was funded by the National
Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging.
The article is also to appear online
today at Wiley Interscience (subscription)
click here.
Article: "Mediterranean Diet and
risk of Alzheimer's disease." Scarmeas, Nikolaos; Stern, Yaakov; Tang,
Ming-Xin; Mayeux, Richard; Luchsinger, Jose." Annals of Neurology. April
2006; Published online April 18, 2006.
Click here to Search SeniorJournal.com for more on
this subject
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
