A plant-based diet would protect our brain

The world population is ageing. According to a United Nations report, in 2017, the planet had 137 million people over the age of 80, by 2050 this number is expected to triple to 425 million. France had 16 million people aged over 60 in 2017 and is expected to have nearly 23 million in 2050. This figure would make us, according to these projections, the third European country with the most aging population in the middle of the century, behind Germany and the United Kingdom (with 29 and 24 million people aged over 60 respectively in 2050).

The increase in the number of elderly people is accompanied by an increase in the incidence of diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer’s. With this aging of the population, it is important to identify the modifiable risk factors and the lifestyle changes to adopt in order to prevent the resurgence of these diseases. According to a study led by Professor Koh Woon Puay, of the National University of Singapore, a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and seeds and low in animal products, such as meat and dairy products, can prevent cognitive decline associated with mental illness. ‘age. The results of his study were published in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Five diets on the grill

The researchers studied data collected from the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a demographic cohort study of 63,257 Chinese people living in Singapore. Adults aged 45 to 74 answered questions about their diet, smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, sleep duration, height, weight and medical history. Other factors, such as their marital status (in a couple, single, married or divorced), their sex and their level of education were also taken into account.

The baseline study was conducted between April 1993 and December 1998, and researchers repeated their interviews in follow-up visits through 2016. For their research, the team used data from 16,948 people aged 53 years at the time of the baseline study. Cognitive function assessments were completed between 2014 and 2016. Five dietary models were used for the assessment: the Alternative Mediterranean Diet (a modified version of the Cretan diet), the DASH Diet (it consists of favoring a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, fiber, seeds and vegetable protein and low in fat), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, the Plant-Based Diet Index and the Healthy Plant-Based Diet Index. While all of these diets emphasize plant foods, the last two assign positive scores to plant foods and negative scores to animal foods.

Prioritize a healthy lifestyle

Participants were asked to give their opinion on 165 products regularly consumed by the inhabitants of Singapore, indicating the number of times they ate them as well as the quantity they took (small, medium or large).

The first results indicate that of the five diets studied, women who exercise regularly, who are the most educated and who are non-smokers, obtain better results than the others. The researchers also found that 2,443 participants suffered from cognitive impairment between 2014 and 2016, or 14.4% of the sample. In addition, people whose diet followed one of the five eating habits were 18% to 33% less likely to develop cognitive impairment later than those whose diet did not follow this trend.

According to Koh Woon Puay, the findings are important because previous studies linking diet and cognitive impairment have yielded mixed results, and few studies have been conducted on Asian people. “Such a scheme is not about the restriction of a single food, but the composition of an overall scheme that recommends reducing red meats, especially if they are processed, and favoring foods of plant origin (vegetables, fruits , nuts, beans, whole grains) and fish.”