Eating 2 Spoons of This Food Every Day Could Ward Off Dementia, Study Suggests

Age-related mental decline is a problem that can be life-altering, but it’s never too late to start making small changes that can help keep your brain cells safe. In fact, new research suggests that adding in one tasty snack to your daily routine can make all the difference in helping you protect your brain and ward off diseases like dementia. Macadamia nuts, pistachio nuts , brazil nuts — we love them all. And researchers from the University of South Australia have found that adding just two teaspoons (10 grams) of nuts to your daily diet might be all you need to protect and even enhance your mental functioning. The study analyzed data from 4,822 Chinese adults aged 55 years and older over a 15-year period. According to their observations, the simple addition of two teaspoons of nuts to the participants’ diet was associated with improved thinking, reasoning, and memory. Lead researcher of the study, Dr. Ming Li said, “By eating more than 10 grams of nuts per day older people could improve their cognitive function by up to 60 percent compared to those not eating nuts. This can effectively [ward] off what would normally be experienced as a natural two-year cognition decline.” Considering that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the current amount of people living with dementia globally is 47 million, these findings are pretty exciting! So what type of nuts, exactly? Well, in this research, most of the participants consumed peanuts, and they were prepared in different ways: raw, fried, and roasted. Other nuts consumed included walnuts , chestnuts, pine nuts, almonds, and hazelnuts. But Dr. Li suggests that the type of nut isn’t actually so important. Instead, she claims focusing on nuts locally to you can help to improve brain health. “China is such a […]

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