A common cooking ingredient could lower your risk of dying from dementia by as much as 28 percent, scientists have said. A new study has revealed that a diet rich in olive oil could support brain health significantly.
The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, build on previous research that has argued the Mediterranean diet – which is known for its use of olive oil – may help slow cognitive decline.
But few studies have looked at the relationship between olive oil consumption and dementia-related mortality.
This is what the team, led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health scientists, set out to discover.
As part of the research they analysed data from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, two large prospective studies of American adults.
They used data from a subset of 92,383 participants observed over 28 years. Participants were categorised by their olive oil intake frequency.
These were:
- Never or less than once per month (control group)
- Some olive oil, defined as greater than zero to less than or equal to 4.5 grams per day
- Greater than 4.5 grams per day to less than or equal to 7 grams per day
- Greater than 7 grams per day.
Then the researchers calculated how much olive oil participants consumed over the span of 18 years. They found that participants who consumed more olive oil had a lower risk of dying from dementia.
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As reported by the National Institute of Ageing (NIA), substituting olive oil for margarine and mayonnaise was associated with a lower risk of dementia-related mortality regardless of overall diet quality. And researchers found that participants with the highest olive oil intake had a lower risk for dementia-related deaths.
Participants who consumed more than seven grams per day of olive oil had a 28 percent lower risk of dying from dementia compared with participants who never or rarely consumed olive oil. Of 37,649 total deaths that the study documented, 4,571 participants died from dementia.
Study authors summed up: “This study found that in US adults, particularly women, consuming more olive oil was associated with lower risk of dementia-related mortality, regardless of diet quality. Substituting olive oil intake for margarine and mayonnaise was associated with lower risk of dementia mortality and may be a potential strategy to improve longevity free of dementia.
“These findings extend the current dietary recommendations of choosing olive oil and other vegetable oils to the context of cognitive health and related mortality.” Results were consistent after further adjustment for APOE ε4, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.
However, the study has some limitations. Participants were mostly white, meaning it is not known if olive oil would have a similar effect on people of other ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore the study did not differentiate among types of olive oil.
But NIA commented: “Nonetheless, the findings underscore that diet is an important lifestyle factor that warrants future research as a dementia prevention strategy.”
Other research has shown olive oil to be anti-inflammatory, something that could help protect against:
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Metabolic syndrome
- Type 2 diabetes
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Arthritis
- Obesity
