More nuts and better will be your cognitive powers if you are old already.
A study has showed that a high intake of nuts may help protect the elderly from cognitive decline. A team of researchers examined whether a diet high in nuts might help protect against age-related cognitive decline over a three-year period.
A total of 119 participants aged 65 and over with dementia from Chianti, Italy. Participants were selected based on their nut intake: non-nut consumers and regular nut consumers.
Researchers found that, from 119 subjects, 38 participants experienced cognitive decline, 28 from the non-nut consumers group and 10 from the nut consumers group. Nut consumption estimated either by the dietary marker or by the urinary marker model was in both cases associated with lower cognitive decline.
“The use of a panel of metabolites provides accurate and complementary information on nut exposure and reinforces the results obtained using dietary information,” states Prof. Andrés-Lacueva, ICREA Academia at the University of Barcelona, Group leader of CIBERFES on Frailty and Healthy Aging and principal investigator of the study.
The study was supported by the International Nut & Dried Fruit Council, an umbrella organization for the nut and dried fruit industry with more than 800 nut and dried fruit sector companies from over 80 countries.
