Harvard scientists say olive oil decreases risk of dementia
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Researchers have examined tens of thousands of people over a 28-year period, finding substantial effects of unhealthy diets on increasing the risk of dementia.
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A Lebanese man tests freshly squeezed olive oil at a oil-pressing facility in the village of Baakline, Lebanon, October 16, 2009. (AFP)
Incorporating olive oil into a person's diet would reduce the risk of dementia, researchers at Harvard University said at the American Society for Nutrition's Nutrition 2023 conference.
Around 5.8 million people in the US suffer from dementia, a condition that severely affects an individual's cognitive functioning. The can be caused by multiple factors and remains untreatable; however, scientists and doctors believe that simple changes in a person's lifestyle can lower its risk.
Researchers at Harvard discovered that individuals who used olive oil in the place of condiments such as margarine and mayonnaise had a lower risk of dying from the disease.
The study retrieved dietary and health data from 60,582 women and 31,801 men who were not affected by cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study, and examined the selected group over a 28-year period in which 4,749 people died of dementia.
What the researchers found is that people consuming more than 7 grams of olive oil a day had a 25% less chance of dying of dementia when compared to people whose diets contained little to no olive oil.
Furthermore, scientists say that replacing one teaspoon a day of margarine or mayo with its equivalent in olive oil lowered the risk of dying of dementia by 14%.
"In US adults, higher olive oil intake was associated with a moderately lower risk of fatal dementia, irrespective of diet quality," the researchers concluded. "Increasing olive oil intake in place of margarine and mayonnaise represents a potential strategy to reduce dementia mortality risk."
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Is olive oil the key?
The findings do not suggest that having olive oil on its own can lower the risk of dying from dementia, but they do show that there is a link between people who consume quantities of olive oil and a lower risk of dying from the disease.
"Olive oil is rich in antioxidant compounds such as polyphenols and vitamin E, which are known to combat oxidative stress," Scott Keatley, the co-owner of Keatley Medical Nutrition Therapy, told Yahoo Life.
"Oxidative stress is a key factor in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia. From this perspective, the study's findings make sense: Antioxidants in olive oil could potentially help protect the brain by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation."
Lead author of the study and registered dietitian Anne-Julie Tessier, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health said that antioxidant compounds found in olive oil can cross the blood-brain barrier, which can have a direct effect on the brain
On the other hand, Dr Amit Sachdev, a medical director in the Department of Neurology at Michigan State University, says that prevention cannot be entirely related to one food product. Instead, it is rather that an improved lifestyle and better dietary choices in general that make the difference.
Read more: Study shows use of hearing aid could reduce risk of dementia
Lifestyle changes are essential to preventing dementia
The findings of a study conducted by The Lancet public health journal revealed that the use of hearing aid significantly decreased the risk of dementia for hearing-impaired individuals.
The study, which was published in April, examined data from 437,704 people with an average age of 56, whom the study followed up with for an average of 12 years.
The figures discovered by the researchers were astonishing, as hearing-impaired individuals that did not wear hearing aids were at a 42% higher risk of dementia when compared with people with normal hearing. The study also revealed that there was no increased risk in people who wore hearing aids when compared to people with normal hearing.
Also, a study in 2021 in China, conducted by researchers from Tianjin Medical University, found that increased consumption of tea and coffee also helped prevent neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases for individuals.
In fact, it is lifestyle choices, such as an improved, healthier diet and a general lookout for a person's health, that help prevent untreatable diseases such as dementia.
