Eating Cheese and Drinking Wine may Help Decrease Cognitive Decline

Foods we eat could have a direct impact on our cognitive health in our later years, according to a new study. The findings of the study are published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. The study was spearheaded by the principal investigator, Auriel Willette. It is a first-of-its-kind large scale analysis that links specific foods to later-in-life cognitive acuity.

Willette, Klinedinst, and their team studied data collected from 1,787 aging adults (from 46 to 77 years of age, after the study) through the UK Biobank.

Participants performed a Fluid Intelligence Test (FIT) as part of a touchscreen questionnaire at baseline (between 2006-2010) and then in two follow-up evaluations (from 2012 through 2013 and again between 2015 and 2016). The Fluid Intelligence Test analysis provides an in-time snapshot of an individual's ability to "think on the fly."

Participants also responded to questions about their food and alcohol consumption at baseline and through two follow-up assessments. The Food Frequency Questionnaire asked volunteers about their intake of raw vegetables, fresh fruit, dried fruit, and salad, cooked vegetables, processed meat, poultry, oily fish, lean fish, beef, lamb, pork, cheese, bread, cereal, tea, and coffee, beer and cider, white wine, red wine, and champagne, and liquor.

The four most significant findings from the study:

• Cheese, by far, was shown to be the most protective food against age-related cognitive problems, even late into life;
• The daily consumption of alcohol, especially red wine, was related to improvements in cognitive function;
• Weekly consumption of lamb, but not other red meats, was shown to promote long-term cognitive prowess; and
• Excessive salt consumption is bad, but only people already at risk for Alzheimer's Disease may need to watch their consumption to avoid cognitive problems over time.

"I was really surprised that our results suggest that responsibly eating cheese and drinking red wine every day are not just good for helping us cope with our current coronavirus pandemic, but perhaps also dealing with an increasingly complicated world that never seems to slow down," Willette stated.

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Source-Medindia