{"id":222709,"date":"2025-09-13T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222709\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T05:00:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:00:12","slug":"mediterranean-diet-could-reduce-dementia-risk-even-in-those-with-greater-genetic-disposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/222709\/","title":{"rendered":"Mediterranean diet could reduce dementia risk even in those with greater genetic disposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

People at the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer\u2019s disease benefit the most from following a Mediterranean-style diet<\/a>, research has shown.<\/p>\n

People with greater risk of developing the condition showed a greater reduction in dementia risk if they followed a Mediterranean diet, compared to those at lower genetic risk.<\/p>\n

Researchers from MIT and Harvard explained: \u201cOne reason we wanted to study the Mediterranean diet is because it is the only dietary pattern that has been causally linked to cognitive benefits in a randomised trial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to see whether this benefit might be different in people with varying genetic backgrounds, and to examine the role of blood metabolites, the small molecules that reflect how the body processes food and carries out normal functions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alzheimer\u2019s disease and other dementias are some of the most common reasons for cognitive decline in older people. There is known to be a strong genetic component in Alzheimer\u2019s disease, with heritability thought to be up to 80%.<\/p>\n

One gene, apolipoprotein E (APOE), carries the greatest genetic risk for developing sporadic Alzheimer\u2019s (the more common type develops in older age and is not directly inherited in a predictable pattern).<\/p>\n

People with one copy of the\u00a0APOE4\u00a0variant have a three to four greater chance of developing Alzheimer\u2019s, while those with two copies have a 12-fold higher risk of Alzheimer\u2019s than those without it.<\/p>\n

Researchers examined data from 4,215 women from 1989 to 2023 (average age 57 at baseline) and similar data from 1,490 men from 1993 to 2023.<\/p>\n

They found that the protective effect of following a Mediterranean-style diet was strongest in the high-risk group with two copies of the\u00a0APOE4\u00a0gene variant. This suggests the diet could help to offset genetic risk.<\/p>\n

Study first author and research fellow Yuxi Liu, PhD, said: \u201cThese findings suggest that dietary strategies, specifically the Mediterranean diet, could help reduce the risk of cognitive decline and stave off dementia by broadly influencing key metabolic pathways.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis recommendation applies broadly, but it may be even more important for individuals at a higher genetic risk, such as those carrying two copies of the\u00a0APOE4\u00a0genetic variant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more in Nature Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People at the highest genetic risk for Alzheimer\u2019s disease benefit the most from following a Mediterranean-style diet, research…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":222710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[815,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-222709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115195230744365628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}