📰🧠🔬 DEMENTIA STUDY HIGHLIGHTS – Diet Quality and Dementia Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer Pathology by Mrhar A., et al.

Does a healthy diet reduce dementia risk in older adults with Alzheimer pathology?

This cohort study followed adults aged 60 years or older without dementia, assessing adherence to three healthy dietary patterns over 18 years to examine their association with dementia risk in later life.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀:
• Higher diet quality was associated with a lower risk of developing dementia over a 15-year follow-up among 1,865 older adults without dementia at baseline.
• Healthy diets remained beneficial even in people with biological signs of Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting that diet may help delay the onset of dementia despite underlying brain pathology.
• Among participants with elevated Alzheimer’s and neurodegeneration biomarkers (p-tau217, NFL, and GFAP), the anti-inflammatory dietary pattern (rEDII) showed the strongest and most consistent association with a lower risk of dementia.
• The Mediterranean diet (AMED) and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) were associated with a lower dementia risk, mainly in participants with lower biomarker levels, suggesting their greatest benefit may occur earlier in the disease process.
• Overall, healthier diets were associated with delaying the onset of dementia and extending dementia-free years, rather than preventing Alzheimer’s pathology itself.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀:
• Following a healthy, high-quality diet may help reduce the risk of dementia, even in older adults with biological signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
• An anti-inflammatory diet may be especially beneficial for individuals with existing Alzheimer’s-related brain changes.

📄 Access the full article at: Mrhar A, Carballo-Casla A, Grande G, et al. Diet Quality and Dementia Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer Pathology. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(6):e2620254. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850780. This is an open-access article under a CC BY licence.