Food to beat dementia

Some interesting pointers have come to light over the past few years, including the idea that restricting calorie intake may be beneficial. It seems that lowering our calorie intake by a third, mostly through reducing portion sizes, may improve the outcome of memory tests.

Swapping to a mainly Mediterranean-style diet may help. This involves basing meals and snacks on plenty of vegetables and fruits, legumes and wholegrain cereals, plus some oily fish and other seafoods. Small amounts of red meat (a couple of small servings a week) and dairy foods such as butter and cream are eaten in these diets, along with moderate amounts of alcohol (often red wine) and unsaturated fats such as olive oil.

But being a normal weight and eating lots of fruits and vegetables, wholegrain foods and pulses, and not too much saturated fat, is known to be good for many aspects of our health. So knowing that it may also help to maintain a vibrant and active memory could be just the incentive that you need to make some dietary switches - not just for a week or two in a burst of enthusiasm, but for good.