Yzabelle Bostyn
SPANISH health experts claim THIS diet could help ward off Alzheimer’s disease.
Many people greatly underestimate the power of a healthy diet when it comes to maintaining our brain health.
Now, the Universidad Complutense de Madrid has shown the ‘Dash’ diet could be the key to keeping Alheimzer’s at bay.
‘Dash’ stands for ‘Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension’ and helps fight many neurological diseases and is generally considered a healthy diet by researchers.
Experts say the Dash diet emphasises the consumption of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds and legumes.
In addition, they also advocate the moderate use of fats and oils to enhance the effect of this healthy plan.
Some 179 research participants between 41-81 who normally followed a ‘Dash’ diet changed to unhealthy habits for the study.
The results showed alterations in the functioning of certain brain regions similar to Alzheimer’s patients.
This was the first study to examine the direct relationship between diet and electrophysiological measures of brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in cognitively healthy people. After analysing the conclusions, the experts say that the results obtained are of ‘great importance’, as they confirm the need to increase adherence to this type of dietary pattern. ‘It can promote good brain function in healthy people’ and potentially even prevent brain deterioration.
This study aims to reinforce the relevance of a healthy lifestyle, not only to protect our body from issues such as being overweight, but also from serious health problems such as brain dysfunctions.
By following this type of diet, people are able to reduce the risk of suffering from problems such as the dreaded Alzheimer’s disease that destroys so many families every year.
The project is part of a larger research project to monitor cognitively healthy people to try to identify early biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.
