{"id":12702,"date":"2013-05-01T08:52:57","date_gmt":"2013-05-01T12:52:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=12702"},"modified":"2013-06-03T22:27:20","modified_gmt":"2013-06-04T02:27:20","slug":"study-suggests-eating-omega-3s-and-avoiding-meat-dairy-linked-to-preserving-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/05\/study-suggests-eating-omega-3s-and-avoiding-meat-dairy-linked-to-preserving-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Study suggests eating omega 3s and avoiding meat, dairy linked to preserving memory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From the <span class=\"textTag\">American Academy of Neurology<\/span> press release via MedicalXpress:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"clear-left\" id=\"news-desc\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" alt=\"Mediterranean diet fish\" src=\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/images\/blogpics\/mediterranean_diet_fish.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/>The largest study to date finds that<strong> eating foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, chicken and salad dressing and avoiding saturated fats, meat and dairy foods may be linked to preserving memory and thinking abilities. <\/strong>However, the same association was not found in people with diabetes. The research is published in the April 30, 2013, print issue of <i>Neurology<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>Since there are no definitive treatments for most dementing illnesses, modifiable activities, such as diet, that may delay the onset of symptoms of dementia are very important<\/strong>,&#8221; said Georgios Tsivgoulis, MD, with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Athens, Greece. Tsivgoulis is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology.<\/p>\n<p>Data came from the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a national sample of the general population. For the study, <span class=\"textTag\">dietary information<\/span> from 17,478 African-American and Caucasian people with an average age of 64 was reviewed to see how closely they adhered to a Mediterranean diet. They were also given tests that measured memory and thinking abilities over an average of four years. A total of 17 percent of the participants had diabetes. Seven percent of the participants developed impairments in their thinking and <span class=\"textTag\">memory skills<\/span> during the study.<\/p>\n<p>The study found that<strong> in healthy people, those who more closely followed the Mediterranean diet were 19 percent less likely to develop problems with their thinking and memory skills<\/strong>. There was not a significant difference in declines between African-Americans and Caucasians. However, the <span class=\"textTag\">Mediterranean diet<\/span> was not associated with a lower risk of thinking and <span class=\"textTag\">memory problems<\/span> in people with diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Diet is an important modifiable activity that could help in preserving cognitive functioning in late life,&#8221; said Tsivgoulis. &#8220;However, it is only one of several important lifestyle activities that might play a role in late-life mental functioning. <strong>Exercise, avoiding obesity, not smoking cigarettes and taking medications for conditions like diabetes and hypertension are also important.<\/strong>&#8220;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From the American Academy of Neurology press release via MedicalXpress: The largest study to date finds that eating foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish, chicken and salad&#8230; <a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2013\/05\/study-suggests-eating-omega-3s-and-avoiding-meat-dairy-linked-to-preserving-memory\/\">Read more &raquo;<\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,339,4,6],"tags":[42,18,208,207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12702"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12749,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12702\/revisions\/12749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}