- As a result of aging or age-related disease such as dementia, people may start to experience a slight slowing of processing speed and occasional memory lapses.
- Diet may offer protective benefits against cognitive decline, but these results have not been repeated in clinical trials.
- Now, a new study has found that for older people, cutting daily calorie intake by a small amount may improve cognition.
- Improvements in cognition did not differ significantly between people who followed the MIND diet and those on any mild calorie restriction.
Cognitive change is normal as we age. A slight decline in memory and processing speed may begin
Although no individual nutrients have been found to prevent cognitive decline, observational studies suggest that the Mediterranean diet may have beneficial effects on cognition.
Now, a study has compared the effect of the MIND diet — a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets — and mild caloric restriction on cognition.
The study found that both diets had a small positive effect on cognition, with neither being significantly better than the other.
“These study results point to mild caloric restriction and an average weight loss of 5.5% as lifestyle factors that may support cognition in older adults.”
— Rapozo, registered dietitian nutritionist and senior nutrition and health educator at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute in Santa Monica, California
The study is published inThe New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers enrolled a total of 604 people in the study. All participants reported a family history of Alzheimer’s disease and were on suboptimal diets but showed no signs of cognitive decline on testing. All participants had a
They randomly divided the participants into two groups: 301 people were allocated to the…
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