Diet and Exercise Play a Role in Mental Health

by | Sep 15, 2009 | 2009, Alzheimer's Disease, Brain Health, Fitness and Exercise, Mediterranean Diet

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Those with high physical activity and high adherance to the Mediterranean Diet had 61% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer Disease has doubled among Americans since 1980, currently affects more than 4.5 million Americans, is expected to hit 16 million by 2050 (1), and costs $100 billion each year to treat (2). When looking at research on the role of diet and exercise and the risk of Alzheimer Disease, both diet alone (3) and physical activity alone (4) has shown benefits to mental health. But now a new study (5) has found that combining both proper diet and exercise yields even more benefits to mental health.

In the study, nearly 1,200 men between the ages of 71 and 83 from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (6) underwent physical examinations every 1.5 years between 1992 and 2006 while also providing information to diet and exercise. The researchers used the Mediterranean Diet as a reference for diet principles and used a rating scale from 0 (least adherence to the Mediterranean Diet) to 10 (highest adherence to the Mediterranean Diet) used in previous research (7).  For physical activity, researchers looked at intensity, minutes of exercise, and number of times per week.

The researchers found that those with the highest adherence to the Mediterranean Diet (marked by high consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fish) had a 40% reduced risk of Alzheimer Disease compared to those with the least adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. When they looked at physical activity, those doing “some physical activity” (0.1 hours of vigorous, 0.8 hours of moderate, or 1.3 hours of light, or a combination per week) had a 29% lower risk of developing Alzheimer Disease. Those doing “much physical activity” (1.3 hours of vigorous, 2.3 hours of moderate, or 3.8 hours of light, or a combination per week) had a 37% lower risk compared to those doing no physical activity.

When they looked at those combining both diet and exercise, compared to those with low physical activity plus low diet adherence, those with low physical activity plus high diet adherence had a 22% reduced risk, those with high physical activity plus low diet adherence had a 14% reduced risk, and those with high physical activity plus high diet adherence had a 61% reduced risk.

For the researchers, “both higher Mediterranean-type diet adherence and higher physical activity were independently associated with reduced risk for AD.”

Source: Scarmeas, Nikolaos, et al. “Physical activity, diet, and risk of Alzheimer disease.” Jama 302.6 (2009): 627-637.

©2009 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

Posted September 15, 2009.

References:

  1. Hebert, LE; Scherr, PA; Bienias, JL; Bennett, DA; Evans, DA. “Alzheimer Disease in the U.S. Population: Prevalence Estimates Using the 2000 Census.” Archives of Neurology August 2003; 60 (8): 1119 – 1122.
  2. Ernst, RL; Hay, JW. “The U.S. Economic and Social Costs of Alzheimer’s Disease Revisited.” American Journal of Public Health 1994; 84(8): 1261 – 1264.
  3. Scarmeas N, Stern Y, Mayeux R, Luchsinger JA. Mediterranean diet, Alzheimer disease, and vascular mediation. Arch Neurol. 2006;63(12):1709-1717.
  4. Middleton LE, Mitnitski A, Fallah N; et al. Changes in cognition and mortality in relation to exercise in late life. PLoS One. 2008;3(9):e3124.
  5. Scarmeas N.  Physical Activity, Diet, and Risk of Alzheimer Disease.  JAMA 2009; 302(6): 627-637.
  6. “Taub Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research” posted from the New York Presbyterian Centers on Aging website.
  7. “Trichopoulou A, Costacou T, Bamia C, Trichopoulos D. Adherence to aMediterranean diet and survival in a Greek population.NEnglJMed 2003;348:2599-608.