Healthier Diet Linked With Larger Brain Volume in Midlife
A higher quality diet is associated with larger brain volume during midlife, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
“There is no blood test that can detect dementia during midlife, but brain volume is an important indicator of brain health,” said study lead author Helen Macpherson, PhD, from Deakin University in Australia. “Brain volume begins to decrease, relative to head size, from midlife into old age, and we know increased brain shrinkage can precede dementia. This research tells us that diet quality needs to be addressed well before old age so that people can give themselves the best chance of reducing dementia risk.”
The study examined data for 19,184 participants between the ages of 40 and 65 in the UK Biobank, a globally accessible database containing genetic and health information. Participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to measure total, gray, white, and hippocampal volume of the brain and answered questions about diet quality.
“We looked at the Mediterranean Diet Score, or how closely people’s diets aligned with the Mediterranean diet, as this particular dietary pattern has been widely studied in relation to dementia risk and brain health,” Dr Macpherson explained. “But we also looked at how well people’s diets match dietary guidelines, including from the World Health Organization (WHO), which recommend eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, grains, low fat dairy, lean meat or its alternatives, while avoiding processed or junk food.”
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According to the study, people who ate a variety of healthy foods, including plenty of vegetables, fruit, grains, and healthy oils, had more gray matter and larger brain volume compared with people whose diets included less healthy foods.
Specifically, the dietary pattern encouraged by a Mediterranean diet—plenty of whole grains and fish but limited red meat—was beneficial, the study found, but the varied diet recommended by the WHO was equally as beneficial.
The link between diet and brain volume was especially prominent in men, the study found.
“We need to look more closely at why diet has a greater impact on brain volume in men than in women,” Dr Macpherson said. “But, overall, these findings suggest midlife may be a really important life stage to address unhealthy eating habits, not just to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, but to protect brain health. Following the WHO healthy eating guidelines may be the best place to start.”
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