How is the Mediterranean diet associated with reduced cognitive decline and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease?

A new study funded by the Alzheimer’s Association’s International Research Grant Program will attempt to answer this question.

“How is the Mediterranean diet associated with reduced cognitive decline and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease?” This is the research question that a new international project funded by the Alzheimer’s Association International Research Grant Program AARG-NTF-23-1027318 will try to answer.

“Substantial evidence supports that the Mediterranean diet (MD) is related to slower rates of cognitive decline and lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the mechanisms explaining the aforementioned associations are still unknown.”, states Christopher Papandreou (PhD), the Principal Investigator of the project and member of the Nutrition and Metabolic Health Research Group (NuMeH) group of the Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV).

This research hypothesis is that metabolite profiles reflecting adherence to the MD and capturing the metabolic response to this dietary pattern are consistent with a generally beneficial profile for cognition. The aim of this project is to identify groups of blood small molecules (metabolites) related to MD and examine their associations with cognitive change and AD.

This study, in collaboration with the Cognitive Disorders Clinic of Aeginition Hospital of the National and Kapodistrian University Athens (Greece), and the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University of Ioannina (Greece), represents a great opportunity to contribute to increase the knowledge on the MD-related metabolic processes that influence cognitive function, neurodegeneration and AD development.

With this study, the researchers from the NuMeH group (led by Prof. Mònica Bulló) and Grup de Neurociència Clínica i Epidemiològica (NeuroÈpia) (led by Dr. Jordi Julvez) will provide all their experience acquired over years of research in nutrition, metabolism and epidemiology/advanced statistics, to advance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on cognition through metabolomics and strengthen the existing observational evidence, providing further support for public health recommendations on the dietary prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

With this study, the researchers from the NuMeH group (led by Prof. Mònica Bulló) and Grup de Neurociència Clínica i Epidemiològica (NeuroÈpia) (led by Dr. Jordi Julvez) will provide all their experience acquired over years of research in nutrition, metabolism and epidemiology/advanced statistics, to advance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on cognition through metabolomics and strengthen the existing observational evidence, providing further support for public health recommendations on the dietary prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.

With this study, the researchers from the NuMeH group (led by Prof. Mònica Bulló) and Grup de Neurociència Clínica i Epidemiològica (NeuroÈpia) (led by Dr. Jordi Julvez) will provide all their experience acquired over years of research in nutrition, metabolism and epidemiology/advanced statistics, to advance the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the benefits of the Mediterranean diet on cognition through metabolomics and strengthen the existing observational evidence, providing further support for public health recommendations on the dietary prevention of cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease.