People with inflammatory dietary habits are 84% more likely to develop dementia compared to those with healthier diets, latest research has indicated.
Scientists from the US have found that people scoring higher on the Dietary Inflammatory Index are more at risk of developing all-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease dementia.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of global dementia cases is estimated to reach 152 million by 2050.
Previous research has discovered that slower cognitive decline and lower dementia risk is associated with anti-inflammatory diets, such as the Mediterranean and MIND diets.
The Dietary Inflammatory Index is a scoring algorithm to classify individuals’ diets according to their inflammatory potential.
During the trial, the team of researchers analysed the health and dietary data of 1,487 participants from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort. Every three years, the participants had to fill in food frequency questionnaires.
Anti-inflammatory components include vitamins A, C, D, E, omega-3 fats and fibre. Meanwhile, pro-inflammatory products include carbohydrates, total energy intake and saturated fats. Participants with higher positive scores had more pro-inflammatory dietary patterns.
A total of 246 of the participants developed all-cause dementia. Those with higher scores on the Dietary Inflammatory Index were more at risk of developing dementia.
The risk of dementia rose by more than 20% for every unit increase on the Dietary Inflammatory Index, the study has reported.
The study was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
