Cheating on your Mediterranean diet with traditional Western can speed up brain aging, study reveals

Cheating on your diet could lead to weight gain, but if you follow the Mediterranean diet and switch to unhealthy foods you may also make your brain age faster. A team from Rush University Medical Center found that adding in foods from the Western diet, such as pizza, sweets and processed meats, reverse cognitive benefits from the Mediterranean diet. The study examined more than 5,000 individuals over the age of 65 from 1993 to 2021 and over the course of three years participants were asked to complete cognitive tests and report on how often the ate certain foods. Researcher recently compiled the data and found those who stuck to the Mediterranean diet had brains that were nearly six years younger than their peers on the Western diet. The Mediterranean diet is inspired by the eating habits of Spain, Italy and Greece, and focuses on consuming more fruit and fish and limiting sugar, dairy and processed foods.