Anti-inflammatory foods may reduce your risk of dementia

Eating a healthy diet that reduces inflammation in the body can reduce your risk of ‘dementia’, especially if you already have cardiovascular risk factors, a new Swedish study shows.

The so-called anti-inflammatory diet focuses on foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish and beans and includes heart-healthy practices such as the Mediterranean diet.

In a study involving more than 84,000 adults followed for more than 12 years, those who adhered to an anti-inflammatory diet were 21% less likely to develop dementia, compared to people those who ate an inflammatory diet with red meat. , eggs, milk and processed foods.

Looking specifically at older adults with conditions such as heart disease or diabetes, the risk of dementia dropped by 31% when they adhered to an anti-inflammatory diet, the team reported. first is Abigail Dove. He is a researcher at the Aging Research Institute at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.

Brain MRI scans of a subset of more than 9,000 participants also showed neurological benefits associated with proper nutrition.

There were “positive changes in the brain,” said Dr. Liron Sinvani, director of inpatient services at North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY.

“Greater gray matter—good gray matter—and a lower burden of white matter hyperintensities were seen among those on the anti-inflammatory diet,” said Sinvani, who was not involved in the new research. .

He explained that a high level of white matter hyperintensities in the brain is a sign of ‘dementia’, so the fact that there was less of it in the brains of people who ate anti-inflammatory regimens was and a good show.

“So basically, it doesn’t just indicate medically diagnosed dementia, but also [healthy] changes in the brain that we see in the images,” he said.

The findings were published on Aug. 12 in the newspaper JAMA Network Open.

The Dove team looked at data from the UK Biobank, which has tracked the lives of British adults for years. The new study included more than 84,000 people under the age of 60 who did not have dementia when they entered the database between 2006 and 2010.

At an average of 12.4 years, 1,559 (1.9%) of the participants developed dementia.

Data on each person’s dietary intake was also recorded, and revealed a significant reduction in the risk of dementia among those who closely followed the diet. anti-inflammatory.

Brain changes that indicate an increased risk of dementia may also be present in MRI scans of people on an anti-inflammatory diet, the researchers said.

“A possible explanation for our results is that anti-inflammatory foods may reduce systemic inflammation. [especially among people with cardiovascular or metabolic diseases]thereby delaying the development of dementia,” the Dove team wrote.

“I think this study also emphasizes the importance of a healthy diet” for brain health, Sinvani said.

However, if your health feels like it’s too difficult to get enough fruits and vegetables and whole grains, can anti-inflammatory supplements fill the gap?

Probably not, said Sinvani.

“There are a lot of antioxidants and I would caution against that and say there are studies that have not supported going the supplement route,” he said. “Of course it has to come from the food.”

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