Berries boost your cognitive function. Fish oil supplements can improve memory. Curry cures Alzheimer’s.
You may have noticed these buzzy ‘brain food’ claims on the ‘magical’ effects of certain foods scattered online and social media feeds.
But if you rely on any of these statements to inform your daily life, you may be wasting time and money.
Today, around 944,000 in the UK are thought to be living with dementia, with the figure thought to be around 7million in the US. Alzheimer’s Disease affects around six in 10 people with dementia.
But can specific foods or diets really stave off or prevent the condition?
Research has suggested that two diets in particular, the Mediterranean diet and the MIND may offer some protection against cognitive decline. They encourage consuming unprocessed food, plants and seeds, and avoiding or restricting alcohol
As a specialist nurse and researcher who has worked with people with dementia for several decades, this is a question I get asked a lot.
The answer is that, while there is no specific anti-Alzheimer’s diet per se, what is good for your heart is good for your head.
Professor June Andrews OBE FRCN FCGI is an expert in care of older frail people and people with dementia
That’s because research shows those with certain conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes — which affect at least 2million Brits — are more likely than those without such conditions to experience age-related cognitive decline.
And plenty of evidence shows the risk of these diseases is slashed with changes to your diet.
Research has suggested that two diets in particular, the Mediterranean diet and the MIND diet (similar to the Med diet, but with less animal-based foods), may offer some protection against cognitive decline.
They encourage consuming unprocessed food, plants and seeds, and avoiding or restricting alcohol.
Below I’ve detailed some specific foods that are worth stocking up on if you want to give yourself the best chance in the fight against dementia.
Get plenty kale, spinach and broccoli
It’s really hard to say one thing or food group is more important than the other. It’s it’s about balance in everything.
But fruit and vegetables are very important because of the antioxidants and vitamin C they provide.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss
One US study last year found that people who followed the MIND diet and prioritised green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, could have fewer proteins in their brains linked to Alzheimer’s.
Published in the journal Neurology, they found those who had eaten seven or more servings per week had a level of harmful brain plaque corresponding to being almost 19 years younger than people who ate the fewest.
At the time, Puja Agarwal, study author and an assistant professor specialising in the role of diet on neuro-degenerative diseases, at Rush University in Chicago said: ‘These results are exciting.
‘Our finding that eating more green leafy vegetables is in itself associated with fewer signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain is intriguing enough for people to consider adding more of these vegetables to their diet.’
Learn to love lentils
Whole grains, as well as legumes, like lentils and soybeans, also appear to have benefits for heart health and cognitive function.
Olive oil, a main component of both the Mediterranean and MIND diets, has strong links with healthy cognitive aging.
One 2022 study of more than 92,000 US adults found that higher intakes of olive oil were associated with a 29 percent lower risk of dying from neurodegenerative disease.
There was also an eight to 34 percent lower risk of mortality overall — when compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil.
if you can afford to buy your food fresh and cook it while it’s still fresh, that’s really important.
If you do one thing…stop boozing
It is never too late to start a brain healthy diet, but you must be realistic about how much difference it will make.
If you are only doing one thing, cut out the alcohol.
Now that there are so many brilliant zero alcohol beverages, you may find that this is the one transformational change you can make to your diet.
Studies show that it is bad for your brain, with research finding that the heaviest drinkers are far more likely to develop Alzheimer’s in later life than those who drink the least.
Lots of young people think that it’s okay to get wasted but the younger you start moderating your alcohol intake, the better it will be when you’re old.
Women of certainly my generation drank more than our mothers did and so we don’t yet know what the long term effect of that is.
If you have a really careful diet, you exercise, but you’re binge drinking at the weekend, at parties, you’re probably undoing all the good that you’ve done all week.
