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Eating a “healthful” plant-based diet is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, according to a new study.
The study also found that an “unhealthful” diet is linked to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.
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According to the new study, a healthy plant-based diet is one that includes plenty of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, vegetable oils, nuts, legumes, tea, and coffee. Conversely, an unhealthy plant-based diet includes a lot of added sugars, fruit juices, refined grains, and potatoes, “that tend to be eaten as part of fast-foods.”
The researchers behind the study found that people who changed their diets to become less healthy over 10 years ended up with a higher risk of dementia, while those whose diets became healthier still had a reduced risk. With this pattern in mind, the researchers noted that adopting a healthy plant-based diet at an older age was still associated with a beneficial risk reduction.
Song-Yi Park, the study’s lead author, said, “Plant-based diets have been shown to be beneficial in reducing the risk of diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure, but less is known about the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.”
Park is an Associate specialist at the University of Hawaii’s Cancer Center. She added, “Our study found that the quality of a plant-based diet mattered, with a higher quality diet associated with a reduced risk, and a lower quality diet associated with an increased risk.”
While the new study found an association between diet and dementia risk, it has not definitively proven that high-quality plant foods reduce risk.
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Plant-based diets and the importance of quality
To produce the study, Park and her team of researchers worked with 92,849 people with an average age of 59 and a range of dietary habits. This group of people, which included African American, Japanese American, Latino, Native Hawaiian, and white participants, was followed for an average of 11 years. In that time, 21,478 people developed Alzheimer’s disease or another related dementia.
Participants self-reported their dietary patterns via food questionnaires, and the researchers found that those who ate the most plant foods had a 12 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those who ate the least. Meanwhile, those whose diets became the most unhealthy over time experienced a 25 percent higher risk, and those whose diets became healthier had an 11 percent lower risk.
“We found that adopting a plant-based diet, even starting at an older age, and refraining from low-quality plant-based diets were associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias,” said Park. “Our findings highlight that it is important not only to follow a plant-based diet, but also to ensure that the diet is of high quality.”
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