Planetary diet could prevent memory loss, but it’s expensive

The results revealed that those who adhered more to the diet showed, after about a decade, slower memory loss. However, participants with higher incomes performed better than those with lower incomes. The explanation may lie in the foods that different social classes prefer when eating a meal.

The wealthier study participants reported eating more nuts, red meat, poultry, vegetables, tubers, and sugar. Those with lower incomes preferred beans, fish, fruits, dairy products, and animal oils and fats.

Overall, research has shown that consumption of dark green leafy vegetables, poultry, and low oil consumption are associated with slower decline in global cognition, i.e., dementia that arrives later.

For the researcher, the lack of a link between diet adherence and cognitive decline in low-income participants may mean that many are struggling to access the foods that make up the planetary diet. She is therefore calling for more public policies that allow those with small budgets to buy healthier options.

“We always told medical students in the classroom that to prevent cognitive diseases, people should eat chestnuts, salmon and use olive oil, which is proof that we used to follow the Mediterranean diet as being beneficial for cognition. However, these foods are all expensive. How can this diet be applied to poor patients? The adherence rate to this diet is basically only in rich patients,” Claudia complained in an interview with USP Radio.