Mediterranean diet lowers Alzheimer's risk

NEW YORK, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A Mediterranean diet -- lots of fruits, vegetables and olive oil and little red meat -- may lower risk for Alzheimer's disease, find New York researchers.

Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Center studied 194 people who had Alzheimer's disease and 1,790 of who did not. Their diet over the previous year was analyzed and scored based on how closely it adhered to the principles of the Mediterranean diet -- high amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, cereals and fish, mild to moderate amounts of alcohol and low amounts of red meat and dairy products.

After the researchers considered other factors that could influence Alzheimer's disease risk, including age and body mass index, those who were in the top third of the diet scores -- had the most Mediterranean diet foods -- had 68 percent lower odds of having Alzheimer's disease than those in the bottom third.

Those in the middle third had 53 percent lower odds, according to the December issue of Archives of Neurology.