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Researchers at the University of California, San Diego, and Wake Forest University say adding beef, chicken, or pork to a Mediterranean-style diet could help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
The Mediterranean diet usually emphasizes fish, nuts, berries, whole grains, and other plant-forward foods. But a new study, reported by the Daily Mail, suggests it can be healthily expanded to include different kinds of meat.
The foods in the Mediterranean diet are staples in Greece, Spain, and other southern European countries. Studies have found people in those regions are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses. Researchers link much of that benefit to the diet—especially omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil, which help protect the brain.
What Researchers Discovered
A new study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia found that combining the Mediterranean diet with a ketogenic approach can be beneficial.
The ketogenic, or keto, diet has become popular. It cuts most carbs and uses fat as the main energy source, pushing the body into burning stored fat for fuel.
Foods in the keto diet include nuts, seeds, fatty fish such as mackerel and herring, eggs, poultry, beef, pork, sour cream, cheese, butter, yogurt and other dairy products, olive oil and other oils, non-starchy vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, and leafy greens, mushrooms, avocados, and a small amount of berries.
The keto diet excludes bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, and squash, legumes, most fruit, and sugar.
Researchers enrolled 20 volunteers: 11 were cognitively normal and nine showed signs of mild cognitive impairment.
Each participant alternated between diets that varied in fat and carbohydrate content, including a combined keto–Mediterranean diet.
Participants followed each diet for six weeks, took a six-week break, then switched to the next diet for another six-week period.
After each six-week period, the scientists analyzed biological samples from every participant. They measured gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the microbes that produce it. Elevated GABA levels have been linked to greater brain stress and cognitive decline and may speed aging.
After the combined keto–Mediterranean diet, participants had the lowest levels of GABA and the microbes that make it, suggesting the diet may benefit brain health.
Dr. Susanna Kraft, one of the study’s authors, said understanding how this diet affects cognitive health could help develop new ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.
