A Green Mediterranean Diet can slow brain aging, according to a study from Ben-Gurion University. Researchers found that a 1% reduction in body weight can make the brain appear nearly 9 months younger over an 18-month period. This discovery offers a potential method for slowing obesity-driven brain aging and a strategy for evaluating lifestyle changes’ impact on brain health.
New findings from a long-term diet trial show a positive effect on brain health.
Switching to a Green Mediterranean Diet positively affects brain health, according to new research from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Weight loss attenuated brain aging in a sub-study of the DIRECT-PLUS trial.
DIRECT PLUS was a large-scale, long-term clinical trial over 18 months among 300 participants.
The sub-study was conducted by Prof. Galia Avidan of the Department of Psychology and Dr. Gidon Levakov, a former graduate student at the Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences.
Their findings were published recently in the scientific journal eLife.
The larger study was led by Prof. Iris Shai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, an adjunct Professor from the Harvard School of Public Health and an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig, Germany, along with her former graduate student Dr. Alon Kaplan, and colleagues from Harvard and Leipzig Universities.
Brain Aging and Obesity
Obesity is linked with the brain aging faster than would normally be expected. Researchers can capture this process by calculating a person’s ‘brain age’ – how old their brain appears on detailed scans, regardless of chronological age. This approach also helps to check how certain factors, such as lifestyle, can influence brain aging over relatively short time scales.
Levakov, Kaplan, Shai, and Avidan studied 102 individuals who met the criteria for obesity. The participants received a brain scan at the beginning and the end of the program; more tests and measurements were also conducted at these times to capture other biological processes affected by obesity, such as liver health.
