Healthy diets may keep people sharp, new research suggests. People who eat plenty of vegetables, fruit and fish have brain volumes that are on average 2ml greater than those who indulge in sugary drinks.
To put that into context, a brain volume reduction of 3.6ml is equivalent to one year of ageing. Having a healthy diet overall is critical, with no one food group helping to prevent cognitive decline, the research adds.
The researchers stress, however, the participants' dietary habits were self reported and they were required to remember what they ate over the past month. They also add the study was only conducted on people living in the Netherlands and may not therefore apply to other populations.
The findings were published in the journal American Academy of Neurology.
