Table of Contents
Fruits, vegetables, extra virgin olive oil, weight control, be careful not to overdo it with meat and animal proteins. Eat well, controlling weight and following the guidelines of the Mediterranean diet, is one of the best strategies for aging well. Care must be taken when young and especially in middle age: this is what the research says. But what should be done in people who have already reached the age of 80?
The question is answered by an Italian research conducted by experts from the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and the Italian Institute For Planetary Health (IIPH, a joint venture between the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research and the Rome branch of the Catholic University), in collaboration with the University of Milan.
Food should not be offered at random
According to the study, which appeared in Clinical Nutrition, nutrition, along with other modifiable risk factors, could play a fundamental role in reducing the risk of dementia not only during middle age, but also in the elderly (80 or older). .
Between 2005 and 2017, the eating habits of the over 80-year-olds who joined the Monzino 80-plus study were assessed with a validated questionnaire submitted to elderly subjects and their caregivers. At the time of recruitment, 1,390 subjects were investigated, while 512 subjects not suffering from dementia were followed up over time to assess the onset of dementia.
“With the progress of research, the importance of monitoring nutrition in these extremely elderly populations is increasingly emerging – explains Patrizia Riso, professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Milan. With advancing age there are changes in nutritional needs and requirements that must be met in order to reduce not only the risk of nutritional deficiencies but also of various related diseases, including dementia.
Despite some conflicting results regarding the association between the Mediterranean diet and the risk of dementia, this eating style could represent one of the best strategies for achieving and maintaining good health. “
“It is fundamental – explains Mauro Tettamanti, epidemiologist of the Mario Negri Institute -. study in greater depth the population of the elderly, because it currently represents the fastest growing population globally both in absolute and percentage terms. It is very interesting that eating in greater quantities is protective against dementia, to suggest and underline the importance of maintaining a rich and varied diet even after reaching advanced age, and to underline the specificity of this population group, in which the known risk factors for younger ages can have minor or even opposite effects ”.
Where the research goes
The important thing, in any case, is to ensure that science is able to concentrate not only information relating to eating habits, but also to other elements that can affect the body’s response over the years.
“Our future perspective – comments Carlotta Franchi, pharmacologist at the Mario Negri Institute and scientific manager of IIPH for the activities related to Mario Negri – is to enrich these new results obtained through the analysis of the data reported by patients and their caregivers. through ad hoc questionnaires, with the analysis of the biological samples of the same subjects, in order to understand the genetic, metabolic and biochemical determinants of the disease that can be influenced by the diet in this population of the elderly “.
