(NewsNation) — The fight against dementia has taken another step forward, with indications that following a certain diet can help, a study finds.
People who have two copies of the APOE4 gene and closely follow the Mediterranean diet have lowered their risk of dementia by at least 35%.
Those specific genes pose a major risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“We followed over 5,700 people for 34 years and found those who followed a baseline Mediterranean diet with little alcohol, red and processed meat but full of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, legumes, fish and olive oil all reduced the risk of dementia,” said Yuxi Liu, lead author of the Mass General Brigham study.
The study also revealed that people with the APOE4 gene appear to have distinctive metabolic profiles. Those profiles, such as nutrient digestion, energy production and the building and repairing of nerves, depend on the compounds in a healthy diet.
“Improving the metabolic function in people with APOE4 through diet might explain, or at least partially explain, the huge fall in dementia risk we saw in our study,” Liu added.
“Of course, we need future studies to further validate that concept.”
A second study involving over 60,000 people in the United Kingdom two years ago revealed that individuals who committed to the Mediterranean diet had up to nearly 24% lower risk for dementia than those not on such a diet.