8 ms·

Mediterranean diet may lower dementia risk by a quarter, study suggests

55 points by lentil_soup 4y ago

moremetadata 4y ago
[dead]
lentil_soup 4y ago
a bit more detail on what a mediterranean diet is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet It's not necessarily the modern diet of mediterranean countries, but it is inspired by the local traditional cousine.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  One of the few science based non-fad "diets".
- lm28469 4y ago
  > It's not necessarily the modern diet of mediterranean countries Yep, they eat the same shit as everybody else does these days: https://ourworldindata.org/exports/share-of-adults-who-are-overweight_v13_850x600.svg https://ourworldindata.org/exports/share-of-adults-who-are-o...
LatteLazy 4y ago
May. May not. No one knows. But let's pretend this is a finding and we haven't just wasted our time.
- anti-soyboy 4y ago
  [dead]
Cenk 4y ago
PDF of the manuscript available here: https://oa.mg/pdf/mediterranean-diet-adherence-is-associated-with-lower-dementia-risk-independent-of-genetic-predisposition.pdf https://oa.mg/pdf/mediterranean-diet-adherence-is-associated...
favaq 4y ago
In mice?
world2vec 4y ago
I'm from a mediterranean country, currently living in London. It is just my very biased opinion but Brits' diet seems to be one of the causes of why so many Britons dying sooner than expected [0]. The average Londoner eats rather poorly. So many greasy sandwiches and crisps, even their salads have to be all greased up in ways that would make my grandmother cry. Fish and seafood are seen as a "chic experience". Copious amounts of beer. And then all the snacks, munching on stuff the entire day (it says "healthy" in the package so it's good right?). Are we cows to be ruminating all day long? They're not even good snacks like some nuts or whatever. Massive breakfast, then a mid morning break for "coffee" (it's just milk and sugar), then lunch (sandwiches or salads filled with sauces), then midafternoon snack then several pints of lager after work and a dinner to finish the day. It's a lot of calories, and lot of bad nutrients. No wonder so many people are obese, if you don't have a very active lifestyle it's easy to get really fat. By no means I'm saying my country is perfect, I see there people moving further and further away from what our ancestors usually ate and it shows on obesity rate is increasing, kids are getting more diabetes diagnosis and so on. But here in the UK it's just too much, a walk through Tesco makes me cringe. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35128440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35128440
- Cenk 4y ago
  The amount of crisps the average Brit eats per day blows my mind. In no other country is potato chips part of every workday lunch.
  - gardenhedge 4y ago
    Very common in Ireland too
  - jwx48 4y ago
    As the East coast of the United States wakes up and checks in, yeah... this place is, for too many people, a food desert. The amount of doughnuts, sweets, chips eaten in my workplace boggles my mind.
    - avgDev 4y ago
pfortuny 4y ago
Simply take a look at this table (the map is silly) and take your conclusion. https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/alzheimers-dementia/by-country/ https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/alzheimer...
- Pinegulf 4y ago
  This may be very silly question, but does one die from Alzheimer's and dementia? Sure they make life miserable, but cause of death? Edit: I did look it up. It seems that this is indeed the case.
  - pfortuny 4y ago
    I really do not know. See https://www.healthline.com/health/dementia/can-you-die-from-dementia https://www.healthline.com/health/dementia/can-you-die-from-... but I do not have a truly reliable source.
- adhesive_wombat 4y ago
  Bulgaria and Albania at completely opposite ends of the table with a 50-fold rate difference between them makes me go "hmm". Or Singapore being right at the very bottom, 40 times less that Malaysia, and 20 times less than Japan. It feels like this might be a table of countries that do and do not often include dementia as a cause of death.
  - pfortuny 4y ago
    Well, looking at extremes is not the best way to analyze general data.
    - adhesive_wombat 4y ago
      Do you genuinely think a 50-fold difference in dementia incidence sounds remotely plausible? That would probably be the strongest incidence gradient signal in medical history. Dementia research would be laser-focussed on the Albania-North Macedonia-Bulgaria axis and the Singapore-Malaysia axis as they'd be near-ideal comparative populations. If the data isn't compatible, the table doesn't mean much at all, since it has merged reporting bias with the actual incidence rates.
sva_ 4y ago
> A Mediterranean diet of nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables TIL I eat a Mediterranean diet, by coincidence. I just do this because it is the stuff I like though.
- 11235813213455 4y ago
  where do you live? for me it's local food, mostly raw vegetables, lots of fruit, olive, nuts, figs, dates, clementines, oranges, persimmons, onions, garlic, leek (fermented), rice sometimes, rarely (few times per year, raw eggs or small fishes) as I'm full with fibers. It makes a lot of sense to do that as we don't spend as much energy as our ancestors or wild animals, and the climate is getting hot and dry due to climate destruction
  - gardenhedge 4y ago
    What raw vegetables do you eat? Do you do any prep to them?
    - 11235813213455 4y ago
      onions, garlic, mushroom, leek, carots, peppers (with lemon or fermented - I let them get very ripe and soft or I get them at the market, that's the ones nobody want but are the most nutritious)
      - mistyvales 4y ago
        You should cook mushrooms for better nutrient absorption. They have thick cell walls full of chitin that needs to break down during cooking, so eating them raw isn't great for you
        11235813213455 4y ago
        even for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus? I masticate them well, and it tastes good I see what you mean, for example for tomatoes as well, but it's a compromise, cooking destroys other valuable things
forinti 4y ago
My Portuguese grandfather used to say: the secret to longevity is onions, tomatoes, and olive oil. He and my grandmother both lived past 90. People in the southern Europe also like to gather and talk a lot, so I suspect that might help too (the article mentions it in the final paragraph). So you live in a beautiful country, you eat well, you interact a lot with your friends and neighbours; you don't need much else.
- sourcecodeplz 4y ago
  Then you also have the salty water and air PLUS no need to exercise too much because you can always take a quick swim. I would also add garlic to your grandfathers' list.
- nightski 4y ago
  There are people who have lived past 90 who have smoked. Anecdotes like this do not work.
sourcecodeplz 4y ago
Omg fresh olive oil, cheeses, tomatoes, salads and other legumes + some fish or chicken. Yes, I do like some pork grease or beef but that's if I'm planning on drinking some heavy liquors.
anonzzzies 4y ago
I eat the med diet because it’s much nicer. It doesn’t taste fatty, sugary or greasy: I simply don’t like these tastes and don’t want to eat them. Unfortunately when I travel for work, mostly to uk/us, it is very hard to manage stuff that doesn’t taste like I just at a tub of lard.
spirit557 4y ago
Basically anything that isn't the standard western/American diet where "balanced" is supposed to mean: 3 meals, snacks in between, excessive fructose from fruit, excessive polyunsaturated fats from manufactured seed oils, constant eating and all energy coming from at least 60% carbodydrates (primarily processed, pre-digested, pulverized grains with a massive glycemic load). Anything that is not the above, many variations low carb high fat or carnivore - will make your risks of modern chronic diseases (aka, hyperinsulinemia, diabetes, chronic inflammation, dislipidemia) go down dramatically. Especially if you are strict about your feast and fast cycles. Humans are not omnivores we are obligate carnivores with a beneficial tolerance for a tiny number of plants. Plants have anti-nutrients that many are sensitive to. Now bring on the downvotes I know they're coming.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  It's funny how well the "seed oils bad" myth infected every diet camp. You see it in every HN thread on diet even though seed oils like canola oil improve health outcomes in humans, especially when compared to saturated fat. Even my dad randomly started railing against seed oils once the nonsense started popping up on his youtube recommendations. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to redpill yourself by looking at outcome data: https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-to-seed-oil-sophistry https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...
  - AlexandrB 4y ago
    I wonder how much of it is "grassroots diet fad" and how much is the meat lobby throwing out FUD to confuse the issue. Having lived through several diet fads already, neither would surprise me.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  What other apes are obligate carnivores? What carnivores have our dental structure? And what separates "obligate carnivores with a beneficial tolerance for a tiny number of plants" from a facultative carnivore? I think you're making a logical flaw in saying that "excess {blah} is bad, therefore any {blah} is bad" which is untrue.
amriksohata 4y ago
Many Hindus adopt a vegetarian diet (details in scriptures and Ayurveda), I remember when I was younger I'd be asked but how do you get your protein? :D
- mistyvales 4y ago
  Many vegetables have large amounts of protein (i.e, lentils, and other legumes), which is where animals you eat get it from.

55 points by lentil_soup 4y ago

[dead]

a bit more detail on what a mediterranean diet is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_diet It's not necessarily the modern diet of mediterranean countries, but it is inspired by the local traditional cousine.

2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
One of the few science based non-fad "diets".
lm28469 4y ago
> It's not necessarily the modern diet of mediterranean countries Yep, they eat the same shit as everybody else does these days: https://ourworldindata.org/exports/share-of-adults-who-are-overweight_v13_850x600.svg https://ourworldindata.org/exports/share-of-adults-who-are-o...

LatteLazy 4y ago

May. May not. No one knows. But let's pretend this is a finding and we haven't just wasted our time.

anti-soyboy 4y ago
[dead]

Cenk 4y ago

PDF of the manuscript available here: https://oa.mg/pdf/mediterranean-diet-adherence-is-associated-with-lower-dementia-risk-independent-of-genetic-predisposition.pdf https://oa.mg/pdf/mediterranean-diet-adherence-is-associated...

favaq 4y ago

In mice?

world2vec 4y ago

I'm from a mediterranean country, currently living in London. It is just my very biased opinion but Brits' diet seems to be one of the causes of why so many Britons dying sooner than expected [0]. The average Londoner eats rather poorly. So many greasy sandwiches and crisps, even their salads have to be all greased up in ways that would make my grandmother cry. Fish and seafood are seen as a "chic experience". Copious amounts of beer. And then all the snacks, munching on stuff the entire day (it says "healthy" in the package so it's good right?). Are we cows to be ruminating all day long? They're not even good snacks like some nuts or whatever. Massive breakfast, then a mid morning break for "coffee" (it's just milk and sugar), then lunch (sandwiches or salads filled with sauces), then midafternoon snack then several pints of lager after work and a dinner to finish the day. It's a lot of calories, and lot of bad nutrients. No wonder so many people are obese, if you don't have a very active lifestyle it's easy to get really fat. By no means I'm saying my country is perfect, I see there people moving further and further away from what our ancestors usually ate and it shows on obesity rate is increasing, kids are getting more diabetes diagnosis and so on. But here in the UK it's just too much, a walk through Tesco makes me cringe. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35128440 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35128440

Cenk 4y ago
The amount of crisps the average Brit eats per day blows my mind. In no other country is potato chips part of every workday lunch.
- gardenhedge 4y ago
  Very common in Ireland too
- jwx48 4y ago
  As the East coast of the United States wakes up and checks in, yeah... this place is, for too many people, a food desert. The amount of doughnuts, sweets, chips eaten in my workplace boggles my mind.
  - avgDev 4y ago

pfortuny 4y ago

Simply take a look at this table (the map is silly) and take your conclusion. https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/alzheimers-dementia/by-country/ https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/alzheimer...

Pinegulf 4y ago
This may be very silly question, but does one die from Alzheimer's and dementia? Sure they make life miserable, but cause of death? Edit: I did look it up. It seems that this is indeed the case.
- pfortuny 4y ago
  I really do not know. See https://www.healthline.com/health/dementia/can-you-die-from-dementia https://www.healthline.com/health/dementia/can-you-die-from-... but I do not have a truly reliable source.
adhesive_wombat 4y ago
Bulgaria and Albania at completely opposite ends of the table with a 50-fold rate difference between them makes me go "hmm". Or Singapore being right at the very bottom, 40 times less that Malaysia, and 20 times less than Japan. It feels like this might be a table of countries that do and do not often include dementia as a cause of death.
- pfortuny 4y ago
  Well, looking at extremes is not the best way to analyze general data.
  - adhesive_wombat 4y ago
    Do you genuinely think a 50-fold difference in dementia incidence sounds remotely plausible? That would probably be the strongest incidence gradient signal in medical history. Dementia research would be laser-focussed on the Albania-North Macedonia-Bulgaria axis and the Singapore-Malaysia axis as they'd be near-ideal comparative populations. If the data isn't compatible, the table doesn't mean much at all, since it has merged reporting bias with the actual incidence rates.

sva_ 4y ago

> A Mediterranean diet of nuts, seafood, whole grains and vegetables TIL I eat a Mediterranean diet, by coincidence. I just do this because it is the stuff I like though.

11235813213455 4y ago
where do you live? for me it's local food, mostly raw vegetables, lots of fruit, olive, nuts, figs, dates, clementines, oranges, persimmons, onions, garlic, leek (fermented), rice sometimes, rarely (few times per year, raw eggs or small fishes) as I'm full with fibers. It makes a lot of sense to do that as we don't spend as much energy as our ancestors or wild animals, and the climate is getting hot and dry due to climate destruction
- gardenhedge 4y ago
  What raw vegetables do you eat? Do you do any prep to them?
  - 11235813213455 4y ago
    onions, garlic, mushroom, leek, carots, peppers (with lemon or fermented - I let them get very ripe and soft or I get them at the market, that's the ones nobody want but are the most nutritious)
    - mistyvales 4y ago
      You should cook mushrooms for better nutrient absorption. They have thick cell walls full of chitin that needs to break down during cooking, so eating them raw isn't great for you
      - 11235813213455 4y ago
        even for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bisporus? I masticate them well, and it tastes good I see what you mean, for example for tomatoes as well, but it's a compromise, cooking destroys other valuable things

forinti 4y ago

My Portuguese grandfather used to say: the secret to longevity is onions, tomatoes, and olive oil. He and my grandmother both lived past 90. People in the southern Europe also like to gather and talk a lot, so I suspect that might help too (the article mentions it in the final paragraph). So you live in a beautiful country, you eat well, you interact a lot with your friends and neighbours; you don't need much else.

sourcecodeplz 4y ago
Then you also have the salty water and air PLUS no need to exercise too much because you can always take a quick swim. I would also add garlic to your grandfathers' list.
nightski 4y ago
There are people who have lived past 90 who have smoked. Anecdotes like this do not work.

sourcecodeplz 4y ago

Omg fresh olive oil, cheeses, tomatoes, salads and other legumes + some fish or chicken. Yes, I do like some pork grease or beef but that's if I'm planning on drinking some heavy liquors.

anonzzzies 4y ago

I eat the med diet because it’s much nicer. It doesn’t taste fatty, sugary or greasy: I simply don’t like these tastes and don’t want to eat them. Unfortunately when I travel for work, mostly to uk/us, it is very hard to manage stuff that doesn’t taste like I just at a tub of lard.

spirit557 4y ago

Basically anything that isn't the standard western/American diet where "balanced" is supposed to mean: 3 meals, snacks in between, excessive fructose from fruit, excessive polyunsaturated fats from manufactured seed oils, constant eating and all energy coming from at least 60% carbodydrates (primarily processed, pre-digested, pulverized grains with a massive glycemic load). Anything that is not the above, many variations low carb high fat or carnivore - will make your risks of modern chronic diseases (aka, hyperinsulinemia, diabetes, chronic inflammation, dislipidemia) go down dramatically. Especially if you are strict about your feast and fast cycles. Humans are not omnivores we are obligate carnivores with a beneficial tolerance for a tiny number of plants. Plants have anti-nutrients that many are sensitive to. Now bring on the downvotes I know they're coming.

hombre_fatal 4y ago
It's funny how well the "seed oils bad" myth infected every diet camp. You see it in every HN thread on diet even though seed oils like canola oil improve health outcomes in humans, especially when compared to saturated fat. Even my dad randomly started railing against seed oils once the nonsense started popping up on his youtube recommendations. Fortunately, it's pretty easy to redpill yourself by looking at outcome data: https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-to-seed-oil-sophistry https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  I wonder how much of it is "grassroots diet fad" and how much is the meat lobby throwing out FUD to confuse the issue. Having lived through several diet fads already, neither would surprise me.
SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
What other apes are obligate carnivores? What carnivores have our dental structure? And what separates "obligate carnivores with a beneficial tolerance for a tiny number of plants" from a facultative carnivore? I think you're making a logical flaw in saying that "excess {blah} is bad, therefore any {blah} is bad" which is untrue.

amriksohata 4y ago

Many Hindus adopt a vegetarian diet (details in scriptures and Ayurveda), I remember when I was younger I'd be asked but how do you get your protein? :D

mistyvales 4y ago
Many vegetables have large amounts of protein (i.e, lentils, and other legumes), which is where animals you eat get it from.