Mediterranean diet helps stave off mental decline

Aging: Mediterranean Diet as Brain Food

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: January 13, 2011

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NY TIMES reports that a more Mediterranean diet helps stave off mental decline. Of Course any diet that is better than the standard american diet is going to improve mental function. The heavy use of Raw Olive Oil and generally vegetarian nature of this style of eating shows its benefits once again. As for the fish part, i don't agree that this is part of what makes the diet beneficial.

I myself eat a lot of Hummus and other Middle eastern Mediterranean fare! It is very easy to eat satisfying meals with the Olive oil and other delicious components.

The Mediterranean diet — heavy on vegetables, fish and olive oil, with moderate amounts of wine — may be associated with slower rates of mental decline in the elderly.

Some previous studies have suggested that the diet has beneficial effects for the brain, but the evidence has not been strong. A new report analyzed data from a continuing study of 3,790 Chicago residents 65 and older that began in 1993. The researchers tested the subjects’ mental acuity at three-year intervals, and tracked their degree of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on a 55-point scale.

High scores for adherence to the diet were associated with slower rates of cognitive decline, even after controlling for smoking, education, obesity, hypertension and other factors.

The lead author, Christine C. Tangney, an associate professor of nutrition at Rush Medical College in Chicago, said sticking to the diet made a large difference. Those in the top third for adherence, she said in a telephone interview, were cognitively the equivalent of two years younger than those in the bottom third.