Preventing Alzeimer`s Disease

Eating a Mediterranean diet has been linked to lower risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and chronic diseases but now new studies have shown that it is also associated with lower levels of Alzheimer&undefined;s disease if paired with regular physical activity.

The mediterranean diet is high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, fish or shell fish, and healthy fats and low in white bread, white rice, red meats and any type of processed food. This type of diet also uses much less salt and sugar and emphasizes the importance of spices for flavoring food. This Mediterrean diet is not just a diet either, it is more of a lifestyle. There is emphasis on eating meals with family and friends, avoiding stress and doing daily physical exercise. A new study has found that by living this type of lifestyle and sticking to the staple foods of the Meditteranean diet wards off Alzeimers disease by up to 60 %. This study looked at 1,880 men and women who were of the average age of 77 and did not have any type of dementia. They studied both their diet and their physical activity levels in detail and tested them every 1.5 years and found that over more than 5 years, 282 developed Alzeimer&undefined;s disease. They found that the people who followed the Meditteranean diet closely as well as those getting the most physical exercise had the lowest risk of dementia.

It is important to note that neither this type of diet or physical exercise can cure Alzeimers or dementia, but used as a preventative measure it can greatly reduce your risks of developing them. Along with reducing your risks of Alzeimer&undefined;s, those that follow this type of lifestyle will have a much lower risk of developing certain cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.