Healthy diet for dementia prevention

Healthy diet for dementia prevention Contributors from the Jockey Club Centre for Positive Ageing outline dietary strategies that can help preserve cognitive function and prevent dementia. Factors contributing to dementia include non-modifiable ones, such as sex and age, and modifiable ones. The Lancet Commission identified nine modifiable risk factors of dementia in 2017,(1) three more risk factors were added in the 2020 update,(2) and in 2024, two more risk factors, namely high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and vision loss, were added, making a list of 14 modifiable risk factors of dementia, accounting for 45% of dementia cases.(3) A recent study proposed four additional modifiable risk factors for dementia and increased the estimated reduction percentage to 65%.(4) Among these latest 18 risk factors, four are related to diet, including mid-life high LDL cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension and obesity, highlighting the importance of diet in preserving cognitive function. This article aims to synthesise current evidence on the role of diet in dementia prevention and introduce practical, neuroprotective dietary patterns that can be adapted across diverse cultural contexts.