European Diet May Protect the Brain

Mediterranean Diet Already Associated with Lower Cholesterol

In the battle of the trend diets, new research puts low-fat diets below low-carb and Mediterranean options.

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -- Eating a Mediterranean-style diet high in vegetables, fruits and nuts, legumes, fish and cereals, and low in dairy products, meat, and fat, with moderate alcohol consumption, is not only good for the heart, it's also good for the brain, new research hints.

In a study, "following Mediterranean diet-type habits was associated with reduced risk for getting mild cognitive impairment -- a transitional stage between normal cognition and dementia/Alzheimer's disease," Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas told Reuters Health.

"Additionally, subjects who already had mild cognitive impairment and had a higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet had lower risk for converting to Alzheimer's disease," he noted.

Scarmeas and colleagues from Columbia University Medical Center, New York, used food frequency questionnaires to calculate Mediterranean diet "adherence scores" for 1,393 individuals with no cognitive difficulties at the outset and 482 individuals with mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study. Read more...