Your Brain on a Mediterranean Diet
When more than 500 adults in their late 70s were tested on their memory and thinking skills, those that had been closely following a Mediterranean-style diet scored higher than those who did not, according to a study performed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh. The participants—none of whom had dementia—were tested on their problem-solving abilities, memory, thinking/processing speed, and vocabulary. They were also asked to fill out food frequency questionnaires, indicating how often they eat 130 different food items, if at all.
From the food questionnaires, the researchers were able to identify those participants who followed Mediterranean-style dietary patterns and those who followed a more typical American diet abundant in processed foods, allowing them to look for associations between diet, thinking skills, and brain health. The differences in cognitive scores weren’t huge, but they were statistically significant.
The research team also performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 358 of the study participants to assess brain volume and white matter structure. From these brain scans, however, they could see that there was no difference in the physical structure of the brains of those who follow a Mediterranean diet pattern and those who don’t. Though specific areas of the brain that weren’t tested here may be involved, the results of this study indicate the positive association between the Mediterranean diet and better cognition has little or nothing to do with an overall healthier brain.
Again and again, over decades, studies have shown that a consistent, plant-heavy Mediterranean diet pattern appears to help protect against obesity, heart disease, some types of cancer, depression, and the physiological effects of stress, among other health conditions. The components of this diet that are most often linked to better health include an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables and limited amounts of meat. In this study, the researchers found that eating more leafy green vegetables and less red meat were strongly associated with better thinking skills, whereas a diet high in processed foods was associated with poorer cognitive function, in part due to lower IQ.
Many different factors, such as weight, overall health status, and earlier dietary habits, can affect just how well a Mediterranean diet can help prevent or delay physical and mental decline as you age. But other studies have shown that following a Mediterranean diet for at least one year is linked to positive changes in the gut microbiome, the diverse community of beneficial bacteria living in your body that is essential for a well-functioning gastrointestinal (GI) tract. A healthy microbiome and GI system, in turn, is also associated with protection against disease and healthier aging, including improved brain function.