Experts say you can lower your risk of dementia by eating 'handful' of one snack every day
Daily consumption of this food could play a protective role in the prevention of dementia, according to new research
by Dan Thompson, Sonia Sharma · ChronicleLiveEating just a handful of one particular snack daily could help to lower your risk of dementia, a new study has shown.
Nuts are said to play a "protective role" against the condition for several reasons - including lowering cholesterol and reducing inflammation. Researchers, from the University of Castilla-La Mancha and University of Porto, analysed data from more than 50,000 participants in the UK Biobank between 2007 and 2012 as the baseline, with a follow-up between 2013 and 2023.
Writing in the journal GeroScience, they said: "The daily consumption of nuts may play a protective role in the prevention of dementia. UK adults who consumed nuts daily had a reduced risk of all-cause dementia compared with non-consumers after seven years of follow-up, regardless of adjustment for lifestyle, hearing problems, self-related health, and the number of chronic diseases."
They added: "Analyses revealed that nut consumption of up to one handful of 30g per day of unsalted nuts were associated with the greatest protective benefits."
The findings echo those of the 2021 Singapore Chinese Health Study, which concluded that eating nuts offered protection against cognitive impairment, an early dementia warning sign, reports the Manchester Evening News. Dementia is an umbrella term for a range of conditions affecting the brain that gradually worsen - the most common of these being Alzheimer's.
There are almost a million people currently living with dementia in the UK. According to Alzheimer's Research UK, one in two of us will be affected by dementia in our lifetime, either by caring for someone with the condition, developing it, or both. The condition is more common in people over 65 but can affect people of any age, with common symptoms including confusion and memory loss.
The NHS says: "There's no certain way to prevent all types of dementia, as researchers are still investigating how the condition develops. However, there's good evidence that a healthy lifestyle can help reduce your risk of developing dementia when you're older. A healthy lifestyle can also help prevent cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and heart attacks, which are themselves risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia (the 2 most common types of dementia)."
The health service further adds: "Experts agree that what's good for your heart is also good for your brain." This means you can help reduce your risk of dementia by eating a balanced diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, keeping alcohol within recommended limits, stopping smoking and keeping your blood pressure at a healthy level.
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