Eat citrus to prevent dementia? A new study published in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests just that. It shows that older people who frequently eat citrus fruit were 23 percent less likely to get dementia. The study was also reported by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) on its Brain Health and Wellness website.
The study was conducted on more than 13,000 elderly Japanese adults. Investigators used data from a long-term care insurance database to correlate health data with the general consumption of vegetables and fruits.
Participants who reported eating citrus fruit almost every day were significantly less likely to develop dementia, when compared to those seniors who ate citrus two or fewer times per week. The researchers adjusted for other factors, including general consumption of vegetables and fruits and overall health. They reported that the relationship between citrus fruit consumption and dementia did not change significantly when other diet and lifestyle factors were considered.
An abstract of the original study is available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28521847. The AARP article is at http://www.aarp.org/health/brain-health/info-2017/citrus-fruit-reduces-dementia-risk-fd.html
According to the AARP article, mandarin oranges were the most commonly eaten fruit in the region studied. The researchers note that further research is necessary to apply the results in additional populations and locations.
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