Meanwhile, research from Harvard suggests that eating olive oil every day reduces your risk of death from neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s by 29 per cent. Study author Marta Guasch-Ferré recommended consuming three to four tablespoons daily.
Go nuts for walnuts
“Walnuts have strong antioxidant properties and are thought to have beneficial effects on oxidative stress,” says Sahakian. “However, in 2021, a study published in the journal Annals of Medicine reviewed a number of studies on walnuts and their effects on cognition and stated that they could not reach a definitive conclusion as to whether walnut consumption improved cognition or not.”
A small glass of wine
To drink or not to drink? That is the question.
A study published in 2020, in the journal Nutrition, concluded that: “Excessive wine consumption increases the risk of dementia by direct neurotoxic effects; however, light to moderate wine consumption seems to reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in an age-dependent manner”.
Goodwin points to two possible reasons for this positive impact: “Alcohol in moderate amounts helps to reduce stress and is commonly consumed for this purpose. Plus, wine, particularly red wine, contains molecules that are antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective and anti-ageing; for example polyphenols such as resveratrol, flavonoids. It pays to be conservative with alcohol of all types but to my mind, readers would be justified in taking a small daily glass of wine to reduce their dementia risk”.
The bottom line…
“If you have a poor diet, for example one high in fat and salt, and you drink excessive alcohol, then you increase the risk of obesity, diabetes and also other illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease,” summarises Sahakian.
“If, on the other hand, you have a healthy diet, with whole grain cereals, fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, dark-green vegetables, blueberries, walnuts, then you decrease your risk.”
The old cliché, in other words, is right when it comes to our brains. We are indeed what we eat.