NEW YORK, April 18 (UPI) -- U.S. adults who ate a Mediterranean diet -- produce, legumes, cereal, fish and alcohol with little dairy and meat -- had less chance of Alzheimer's disease.
Some have theorized that diet may play a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease, but epidemiological data has been conflicting.
Nikolaos Scarmeas of Columbia University Medical Center designed a four-year study of 2,258 non-demented people in New York City to test not individual foods and nutrients, but general dietary patterns being linked to Alzheimer's disease.
"For each additional point to Mediterranean diet scores -- indicating increased adherence to the diet -- Alzheimer's risk dropped by 9 percent to 10 percent, compared with the subjects in the least adherent group that adhered to a Mediterranean diet the least."
The association remained significant even after adjusting for potential confounders such as age, gender, ethnicity, education, caloric intake, Body Mass Index and smoking.
"We conclude that higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with a reduction in risk for Alzheimer's disease," the authors wrote in Annals of Neurology.
