People with the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease who adhere to a Mediterranean-style diet experience slower cognitive decline and a larger reduction in dementia risk than those with lower genetic risk. The Mediterranean diet emphasizes vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, and minimal red and processed meats. The Mediterranean diet has been causally linked to cognitive benefits in randomized trials and appears to interact with genetic background. Changes in blood metabolites indicate that diet influences metabolic pathways that affect how the body processes food and may help reduce the risk of cognitive decline and dementia. Alzheimer's disease has substantial heritability, up to 80 percent.
The study, published in Nature Medicine and led by investigators from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, found that people at the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease who followed a Mediterranean diet - rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, and low in red and processed meats - showed slower cognitive decline as well as a greater reduction in dementia risk than those at lower genetic risk.
"One reason we wanted to study the Mediterranean diet is because it is the only dietary pattern that has been causally linked to cognitive benefits in a randomized trial," said study first author Yuxi Liu, a research fellow in the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Chan School and the Broad. "We wanted to see whether this benefit might be different in people with varying genetic backgrounds, and to examine the role of blood metabolites, the small molecules that reflect how the body processes food and carries out normal functions."
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