ARTICLE - MEDITERRANEAN DIET WITH EXERCISE REDUCES ALZHEIMER’S RISK

There was already accumulating evidence that the Mediterranean diet could be protective against Alzheimer’s. Study author Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, an assistant professor of neurology at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York City, had already published a study that found that those who follow a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of developing cognitive impairments. This time, he and his team wanted to find out if the combination of diet and exercise was even more protective. They followed 1,880 older men and women who lived in New York between 1992 and 2006. The average age was 77, and they took tests every 1.5 years to evaluate their participation in a program of exercise plus a Mediterranean-type diet.

Those who followed the plan well saw a 60 percent reduction in their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with those who neither exercised nor followed the diet plan. "There was an association between both a healthy diet and physical activity and reducing risk for Alzheimer's disease," Scarmeas said. Exactly which components of the Mediterranean diet seem to confer benefit isn't known. "It could be there are individual elements of the diet that are important," he said. "But it could be the interaction."

The researchers note that none of the participants had Alzheimer’s or dementia when starting the study, so there is no evidence that a Mediterranean diet and exercise can cure or reduce Alzheimer’s symptoms.

The results are significant and substantial, considering that around 254,400 Australians currently live with Alzheimer’s disease. A 60 percent reduction from a relatively simple intervention such as diet and exercise could have a huge impact on thousands of people in Australia, and millions worldwide.