Higher diet quality is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia
Elisa Heyrman
Date of publication:
Higher diet quality is associated with a lower risk of developing dementia, even among older adults with biological markers indicating an increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases. This is the key finding of a new study co-authored by asst. Anja Mrhar, MSc in Nutrition Engineering, a researcher and doctoral candidate at the Biotechnical Faculty UL.
The researchers followed more than 1,800 older adults without dementia for almost 15 years, examining how different dietary patterns were associated with the onset of the disease. A key strength of the study is that it is the first to investigate the relationship between diet quality and dementia risk in individuals whose blood biomarkers already indicated an elevated biological risk of Alzheimer's disease or other neurodegenerative processes.
The findings show that higher diet quality was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia. Among individuals at higher biological risk, the strongest associations were observed for dietary patterns with lower inflammatory potential, opening new opportunities for the development of targeted prevention strategies. The researchers emphasise that this is an observational study and therefore the findings should not be interpreted as evidence that diet prevents dementia. Rather, they provide important evidence of the role of diet in reducing the risk of developing the disease.
The study was published in JAMA Network Open, one of the world's leading medical journals.
Anja Mrhar conducted the research during an academic placement at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. She is pursuing her doctoral studies under the supervision of Associate Professor Aleš Kuhar, with Associate Professor Milica Gregorič Kramberger of the Department of Neurology at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, serving as co-supervisor. The research integrates the fields of nutrition, public health and neurology, demonstrating the value of successful interdisciplinary collaboration.