Better Diet, Larger Brain

A Dutch population-based study revealed that a better diet quality is associated with larger brain tissue volumes. The study included 4,447 participants (average age 65.7; female 56.8%) underwent dietary assessment and brain MRI scanning between 2005 and 2015, excluding participants with an implausible energy intake, prevalent dementia, or cortical infarcts. A better diet quality adhering to Dutch dietary guidelines related to larger brain volume, gray matter volume, white matter volume, and hippocampal volume. Diet quality was not associated with white matter lesion volume, lacunes, or microbleeds. High intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, dairy, and fish and low intake of sugar-containing beverages were associated with larger brain volumes. The findings suggest that the effect of nutrition on neurodegeneration may act via brain structure. People with bigger brain have been shown in other studies to have better cognitive abilities. Source: http://n.neurology.org/