Mediterranean diet: Can it prevent Alzheimer's?

At this point, it's not clear that it does.

A study published in the Annals of Neurology in June 2006 suggests that people who eat a "Mediterranean" diet — rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, legumes, cereals and fish — have a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers examined the health and diet of more than 2,000 people over a four-year period. The average age of study participants was 76. None of the participants had Alzheimer's disease at the start of the study. By the end of the study, 260 participants had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

Over the course of the study, researchers evaluated how closely participants followed a published definition of the Mediterranean diet. Participants who stuck most closely to the diet were less likely to develop Alzheimer's than were participants who didn't follow the diet.

Although this is an intriguing finding, more research is needed to evaluate the potential effects of diet and lifestyle on the risk of Alzheimer's disease. An equally valid interpretation of the findings would be that people who had difficulty following a diet plan are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and that also makes some sense.