Butter. Hamburger. Sausage. Store-bought pastries, cakes and cookies. Oh, and soda – sugary or diet. All of them are bad and they all increase our risk of developing dementia. So reports one of the largest and scariest studies to date, involving nearly 60,000 people in their 40s, 50s and 60s. A long-running British health survey called the UK Biobank, a study involving a large number of people, tracked what people usually eat and who gets dementia. Subjects scoring in the bottom third on the diet schedule were 30% more likely to develop dementia within nine years than those in the top third. Technically, the study was about the effects of the so-called “Mediterranean diet,” which is commonly described in the media as a TV movie version of an Italian family dinner: fresh fish, vegetables and fruit, nuts and olive oil — and wine. But the way the study worked, the researchers measured two things: how often the participants ate this “Mediterranean” type of food, but also how often they ate…well, we see it all around us, especially in the USA. Mediterranean food. For example, one of the main questionnaires used in the study was the so-called “Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener”, which has become a standard tool for researchers in this field. (Yet another study recently confirmed its validity.) This screener is a simple questionnaire. You can get it here and printing it out and sticking it on the fridge might be the easiest family health hack anyone can do. There are 14 questions: you get one point for each one which you can check at the end of the week. Do you cook with olive oil instead of butter? Give yourself a point. Do you consume more than 4 tablespoons of olive oil per day? Give yourself another point. Do you eat more than 400 grams of fresh vegetables or more than three pieces of fruit a day? Give yourself a point for each. You also get points if you hit the target of eating enough fish, nuts, beans and dishes with the famous Italian red sauce complete with onions and garlic. (No mention of basil, oops.) So these are “good” foods. (You also get a point if you consume “more than 7 cups of wine” per week. Cheers!) But…you also get points for avoiding bad foods: like the aforementioned things like cookies, red meat, and soda. . The latest study was published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal BMC Medicine. Several previous studies have found a link between those following a healthy Mediterranean diet, a lower rate of cognitive decline with age and a lower risk of dementia. While no diet is perfect, the Mediterranean has emerged as a winner, or winners, in study after study. The Cleveland Clinic reports that this diet reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and many other ailments and helps us live longer. Meanwhile, the Alzheimer’s Society reports that about 2% of Americans ages 65 to 69 have dementia, with the rate roughly doubling every five years as you age. It reports that one-third of people over the age of 90 have dementia.
