NEW YORK, Feb 10, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Eating a Mediterranean diet appears
to be associated with less risk of mild cognitive impairment, New York
researchers said.
Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center in
New York calculated a score for adherence to the Mediterranean diet among 1,393
individuals with no cognitive problems and 482 patients with mild cognitive
impairment.
Study participants were examined, interviewed, screened for cognitive
impairments and asked to complete a food frequency questionnaire from 1992
to1999. Among the 482 with mild cognitive impairment at the beginning of the
study, 106 developed Alzheimer's disease an average of 4.3 years after
follow-up.
The study, published in the Archives of Neurology, found that adhering to the
Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk for this transition from
mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease. The one-third of participants
with the highest scores for Mediterranean diet adherence had 48 percent less
risk and those in the middle one-third of Mediterranean diet adherence had 45
percent less risk than the one-third with the lowest scores, the study said.
The Mediterranean diet is characterized by high intakes of fish, vegetables,
legumes, fruits, cereals and unsaturated fatty acids, low intakes of dairy
products, meat and saturated fats and moderate alcohol consumption, Scarmeas
said.
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