- An ongoing study is investigating the combined effect of a Mediterranean diet and walking on dementia and cognitive decline.
- Both the Mediterranean diet and walking regularly have been associated with brain health, but this study seeks to assess their combined effect.
- The study will be completed by the end of 2023.
Researchers are investigating whether a person following the “MedWalk intervention” may be able to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementias, including Alzheimer’s dementia. “MedWalk” is shorthand for a “Mediterranean diet” and “walking.”
Previous research has linked both a Mediterranean diet and walking to brain health, and this new study hopes to confirm the benefit of at the combined MedWalk intervention.
The study — conducted by researchers from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom — is ongoing, having been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nevertheless, the authors have published the data on their processes and ongoing analysis in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Originally designed to assess cognition over a 2-year period, timing and the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have necessitated reducing the follow-up period to a single year, and the research is ongoing, with the scientists recruiting a wider sample of participants.
The study authors feel that the modified shape of the study will provide sufficiently strong findings.
The primary outcome in which the authors of the study are interested is a 12-month change in visual memory and learning for participants.
The researchers are also interested in observing the intervention’s effect on a range of areas, including mood, quality of life, and health costs, as well as cardiovascular health and arterial stiffness.
The participants in the study are 60-to-90-year-old individuals living in the two…
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