The news isn’t good: Dementia is expected to increase by 40 percent by 2025. Yet preventing this age-borne illness is easier said than done, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
“While ambiguity about the underlying cause of death can make it difficult to determine how many people die from Alzheimer’s, there are no survivors,” writes the Alzheimer’s Association. “If you do not die from Alzheimer’s disease, you die with it. One in every three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another dementia.”
However, new evidence reported by the University of Eastern Finland says it could just be that easy–and the fix is a simple diet that you should follow starting at age 40.
The research was led by Marjo Eskelinen, who published it in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Dementia and Geriatric Disorders and Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“Diet is very important throughout life, and in the prevention of dementia especially the diet that is consumed already at the age of 40-50 years is of top priority,” says Eskelinen. “These findings are important because the dementia process is a long process, and the first changes in the brain may have already started by the age of 40-50 years–about 20 years before the clinical diagnosis.”
The Diet That Could Stop Dementia
Selecting a total of 2,000 participants from the Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Incidence of Dementia study, or CAIDE, Eskelinen wanted to find out one thing: What sort of diet made people less susceptible to dementia.
To do so, she first looked the link between diet and dementia by using a healthy diet index, which she based on the amount of foods the participants consumed.
“Nobody’s diet is based on one single food, and there may be interactions between nutrients, so it makes more sense to look at the entire dietary pattern,” says Eskelinen. “Beneficial components included vegetables, fruits, fish and unhealthy components include sausages, sugary soft drinks and sweets.”
After the analysis, Eskelinen then followed up with the participants–21 years after the study was first started. In this review, 1,449 participants continued to relay their diet and nutrition habits to Eskelinen and her team of researchers.
Then the evidence became clear: Those who continued to eat a healthy diet of fish, fruit, and vegetables past age 40 were up to 90 percent less likely to develop dementia.
Those who ate a diet of sausages and sweets didn’t fare so well, however.
“The quality of fats matters. You should get more unsaturated ‘good’ fats than saturated ‘bad’ fats in your diet,” says Eskelinen. “Additionally, people who already have a healthy diet at midlife have a decreased risk of dementia later in life.”
In conclusion, Eskelinen says this study offers up more solid evidence that eating a healthy diet isn’t just great for your waistline–it’s also great for your health too. And, if you make the switch to a more natural vegetable and fruit based diet, chances are you too could face a dramatically lower risk of dementia.
Readers: What else do you do to ensure you eat a healthy diet?
Sources:
Research Finds Healthy Diet in Midlife Slashes Dementia by 90% – Express.co.uk
Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures – ALZ.org
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