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Midlife diet quality not linked to dementia risk

According to a new study published in JAMA, the quality of diet in middle-aged adults is not associated with future risk for dementia.

Researchers at the University College London (UCL) and Inserm, Paris, prospectively analysed data from 8225 individuals (average age 50 years) without dementia over 2 decades. Participants were asked to complete diet questionnaires to assess the quality of their diets. Healthier diets were considered to be the ones comprising a higher intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts and legumes, omega-3 fatty acids and most polyunsaturated fatty acids.

After 25 years, 344 cases of dementia were recorded. The findings showed that repeated assessments of diet quality during midlife did not have any substantial association with subsequent risk for dementia. However, the study did find an association between quality of diet and mortality.

The authors call for further studies to investigate whether diet has a role to play in dementia prevention in combination with other lifestyles or in sub-groups at higher risk for dementia.


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