What you eat matters for your waistline, but that isn’t the only area that benefits from healthy eating habits, say American researchers.
A healthy diet as currently defined by the USDA food pyramid has now been shown to lower the risk of memory loss as people age, preventing dementia. This is a remarkable finding, as previous studies in the past focused on specific diets, not healthy eating habits.
The findings appear in the journal Neurology.
“This study strengthens the support for the overall idea that eating a balanced diet may be beneficial to reduce your risk of cognitive decline,” says Heather Snyder, Director of Medical and Scientific Operations at the Alzheimer’s Association. “However, there are many aspects of diet in combination with engaging in a healthy lifestyle that may influence cognitive decline.”
Tracking nearly 30,000 men and women from 40 countries, researchers asked participants about their overall eating habits, such as how many servings of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains they consumed. Based on their responses, researchers placed their food choices in either healthy or unhealthy categories.
Researchers also tested their memory skills, following up twice more two to five years after the initial study.
Tallying up the results, they found a strong correlation–those who ate mostly healthy foods were the most likely to have high scores during these memory tests.
Those who ate more unhealthy foods didn’t fare so well, however.
“We just wanted to look at a diverse cohort of people from all around the world and analyze what their risk for cognitive decline would be if they consumed what most organizations would consider a ‘healthy diet’,” says Andrew Smyth, a McMaster University nephrologist and lead author of the study. “For example, if participants consumed the standard dietary recommendations for fruits and vegetables per day, they would get a high score in that category. We were interested in looking at this particular group who have a high risk for cardiovascular disease because they are also going to have a high risk of cognitive decline.”
So, if you’re opposed to following a diet, don’t worry–all you need to do is eat more vegetables, fruits, and whole grains to reap major benefits
What This Means For You
Need a good memory boost? Research shows that people who eat foods from the USDA food pyramid considered “healthy” are the least likely to suffer from cognitive decline as they get older, regardless of where they live, say American researchers.
“We’ve also seen preliminary research suggesting that eating vitamin C and folate-rich vegetables like spinach and broccoli may slow cognitive decline,” says Lisa Drayer, a nutritionist from New York. “So it’s no surprise that to me that the healthiest eaters in this study fared the best in terms of their cognitive health.”
Readers: How healthy is your diet?
Source:
Healthy Diet May Improve Memory, Says Study – CNN.com
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