Eating a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, has a positive effect on health, but little is known about the effects of including unhealthy foods in a healthy diet. very healthy. Now researchers at Rush University Medical Center have reported reduced benefits of a Mediterranean diet among those with a high frequency of eating unhealthy foods. The results of their study were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Journal of the Alzheimer’s Society on 7 January.
“Eating a diet that emphasizes vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains can have a positive effect on a person’s health,” said Puja Agarwal, PhD, a nutrition epidemiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush Medical College. ”But when combined with fried foods, sweets, refined grains, red meat and processed meats, we’ve seen the benefits of eating the Mediterranean portion of the diet seem obvious. reduced. “
A Mediterranean diet is associated with slower rates of mental retardation in older adults.
The observational study included 5,001 older adults living in Chicago who were part of the Chicago Health and Aging Project, an assessment of mental health in adults over 65 years conducted since 1993 to 2012. Every three years, study participants completed a mental assessment questionnaire that tested basic information processing and memory skills, and completed a questionnaire on how often they ate 144 meals.
The researchers analyzed how closely each of the study participants adhered to a Mediterranean diet, which includes daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil , undamaged fish, potatoes and grains, as well as moderate wine consumption. They also assessed each participant ‘s Western diet, which included fried foods, processed cereals, sugars, red and processed meats, high – fat dairy products and pizza. They assigned scores of zero to five for each food item to compile an overall Mediterranean diet score for each participant on a range from zero to 55.
The researchers then examined the association between Mediterranean diet scores and changes in participants’ global mental functioning, episodic memory and visual speed. Participants with a slower mental decline over the follow-up years were the closest to the Mediterranean diet, along with a restricted diet that is part of the Western diet, but participants who did not have a beneficial effect. would eat more Western diet on healthy food components. in slow mental decline.
There was no significant interaction between age, gender, race or education and the association with mental decline in high or low levels of Western diet food. The study also included models for smoking status, body mass index and other potential variables such as cardiovascular conditions and outcomes remained the same.
“Western diets can have a detrimental effect on mental health,” Agarwal said. “Individuals with a high Mediterranean diet score compared to those with the lowest score equated to being 5.8 years younger in terms of cognitive age.”
Agarwal said the findings add to other studies showing that the Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease, certain cancers and diabetes and also supports previous studies on diet and diet. Mediterranean Sea. The study also notes that most diet patterns have a specific scoring matrix that has shown an improvement in mental function among older adults, including the Central- terrestrial, MIND, and DASH, based on the level of intake consumed for each diet component.
“The more we can incorporate green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, berries, olive oil, and fish into our diet, the better it is for our growing brains and bodies. Other studies show that red and processed meats, fried foods and whole grains are low. Ingestion is associated with higher inflammation and faster mental retardation in old age, “Agarwal said. “To benefit from a diet like the Mediterranean diet, or the MIND diet, we had to end our consumption of processed foods and other unhealthy foods such as fried foods and sweets.”
The analysis and conclusions cannot be made in general. Future long-term studies of diet and knowledge among the middle-aged population are needed to expand these conclusions.
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Other researchers at Rush who were involved in the study were Rush Klodian Dhana, PhD; Lisa Barnes, PhD; Thomas Holland, MD; Yanyu Zhang, MS; Denis Evans, MD; Martha Morris, ScD.
The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Aging.
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