Mediterranean Diet and the Risk for Alzheimer's Disease

You've probably seen reports or summaries of this article by Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD and others, which appeared in the June 2006 Annals of Neurology (2006;59:9212-921). I can't think of another health problem that is more distressing to contemplate as we age than Alzheimer's Disease. The Mediterrean Diet is characterized by high intake of vegetables, legumes, fruits and cereals, unsaturated fatty acids (mostly in olive oil), and moderate high intake of fish, with low to moderate intake of dairy products (cheese or yogurt), and low intake of meat and poultry, plus wine during meals.

When you think about it, our own mothers didn't think there was any single miracle food--at least not back in the 40s and 50s. The fad diets started later. I'm not sure my mother ever said, "Eat all the colors," but that was the implication. We always had meat, potatoes, vegetables and fruit, with a light dessert, and the snacking was kept very simple. We had fresh fruits and vegetables when they were in season in northern Illinois, and home canned when they weren't. Potatoes, lettuce, peas, corn, beets, etc. came from the garden beside our house. Eggs and milk were purchased locally.

From reading this article it would seem we get too caught up in focusing on a single nutrient or eating plan and forget the big picture. They decided to study dietary patterns of a region or people rather than a self-selected group that volunteered to change their eating patterns. For instance, if I decide to try the "Mediterranean Diet" living in Columbus, OH, the results will be biased toward someone who's had other health benefits, or detriments. We don't really know how it would have affected me differently if I were 20 years younger, or if I'd never had HRT.

The researchers' conclusions after doing a community based study of 2,258 nondemented individuals in NY (details how they found them in the article): "Higher adherence to the MeDi was associated with significantly lower risk for development of AD." It's a very interesting study that deserves more attention and further research.

There is a follow up study reported in the October issue of the same journal