In Case You Haven't Heard…

Eating an anti‐inflammatory diet of whole grains, fruits and vegetables instead of an inflammatory diet focused on red and processed meats and ultra‐processed foods; such as sugary cereals, sodas, fries and ice cream; lowered the risk of dementia by 31%, a new study found. That benefit held true even for people with existing diagnoses of cardiometabolic conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke, said Abigail Dove, MSc., lead author of the study published Aug. 12 in JAMA Network Open . In fact, people living with type 2 diabetes, stroke or heart disease who ate the most anti‐inflammatory foods “developed dementia two years later than those with cardiometabolic diseases and a pro‐inflammatory diet,” she added. Brain scans of those who followed an anti‐inflammatory diet also showed significantly lower levels of brain biomarkers of neurodegeneration and vascular injury, Dove said. The study analyzed the dietary patterns of over 84,000 dementia‐free adults older than age 60 with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and/or heart disease or stroke who were part of the U.K. Biobank, a longitudinal study that includes participants from England, Scotland and Wales. Brain scans found people with cardiometabolic diseases who ate the most anti‐inflammatory foods had larger gray matter volume — indicating less neurodegeneration — and lower white matter intensities, which are signs of vascular injury in the brain, compared with people who ate an inflammatory diet.