Eating a Mediterranean diet has been found to keep you mentally sharp in your golden years, a new study reveals.
People who follow the popular regiment – full of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains and healthy fats – have better cognitive function later in life, according to a new report from Scotland.
A group of more than 500 seniors were questioned about their eating habits and developed a series of memory and thinking problems.
Those who followed the Mediterranean diet closely, especially by eating lots of green, leafy vegetables and only a little red meat, scored slightly better.
But there did not seem to be a link between diet and better physical brain health, such as a higher amount of gray matter.
Researchers say it is possible that the diet is affecting specific areas of the brain that cannot be seen throughout the neuroimaging organ.
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Eating a Mediterranean diet, especially lots of green leafy vegetables and little red meat, can improve cognitive function later in life, according to a new study from the University of Edinburgh.
The traditional Mediterranean diet is high in vegetables, fruits, beans and whole grains, and lots of healthy fats such as olive oil.
It contains moderate amounts of fish, some chicken and dairy, and very little sugar or red meat.
It has been linked to everything from protecting against diabetes and Parkinson’s to reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke for decades.
In a recent study sponsored by Age UK and The Medical Research Council, scientists at the University of Edinburgh tested the thinking skills of more than 500 79-year-olds.
A study of more than 500 seniors found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet had slightly better memory and thinking ability than those who kept their normal eating habits. But while the results were clear in their test results, they did not show up in MRIs of the subjects’ brains.
The participants were given memory, vocabulary, and problem-solving tests and were interviewed about their eating habits.
MRIs were done on more than 350 subjects to collect data on their brain structures and to form a statistical model to compare against.
According to the study, published in the journal Experimental Gerontology, sticking to the Mediterranean diet had a small but statistical connection with the highest scorers.
This was true even when we took into account childhood IQ, activity level, smoking, and other health problems.
The association seemed strongest for those who ate lots of green leafy vegetables and little red meat, researchers said, suggesting these are crucial parts of the diet.
Strangely, the thinking benefits that were evident in their test scores were not apparent on their MRIs.
There was no more white or gray matter volume, or other structural signs of better brain function.
“In our sample, the positive relationship between a Mediterranean diet and thinking skills is not explained by healthier brain structure, as you might expect,” said lead author Janie Corley, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Edinburgh’s psychology department.
“While it is possible, there may be other structural or functional brains related to this degree of diet, or associations in specific brain regions, rather than the whole brain, as measured here,” Corley added.
Subjects were selected from the 1936 Lothian Birth Cohort, comprising individuals born in 1936 who took part in the 1947 Scottish Mental Survey.
The cohorts have been helping researchers analyze the effect of aging on thinking since 1999.
While this study was one of the first to use neuroimaging, it follows on from previous research linking the Mediterranean diet to better cognitive function.
In January, a team at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that adding foods from a typical Western diet – such as pizza, candy, and deli meats – reversed the cognitive benefits of the Mediterranean diet.
The study examined more than 5,000 seniors for three years and found that those who adhered to the Mediterranean diet had brains nearly six years younger than their peers who indulged in junk food.
A 2020 report in the magazine Gut found that seniors who followed the regimen for a year showed slower cognitive loss, including with memory, compared to others who kept their normal eating habits.
Those who adhered closely to the diet also had better walking speed and better hand grip.
Following the diet boosted their beneficial gut bacteria, which has been linked to the prevention of both vulnerability and memory loss.
A 2018 study published in The Journal of Urology found that men who followed a Mediterranean diet, especially high fish, boiled potatoes, whole fruits, vegetables, legumes, and olive oil, and low juice consumption had a lower risk of aggressive prostate cancer.