Depression and Risk for Dementia

An article authored by a group at the University of Pittsburgh today published an article in the British Journal of Psychiatry confirming and extending our 2006 paper in the Archives of General Psychiatry showing that depression is related to an increased risk of developing dementia later in life. Our previous paper showed that having a diagnosis of depression increased someone’s risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The new study includes studies we didn’t include and expands the analysis to include risk for vascular dementia, a type of dementia related to problems with the blood vessels in the brain.

A post on the New York Times blog “The New Old Age” puts the studies in context and explains what they mean — thanks to Judith Graham for her cogent explanation of the importance of the new study. She quotes me as well as co-author David Loewenstein on the meaning of the new study. You can read her article here.

You can find the abstract of the new study here. (You need a subscription to read the full article.)

Our original paper in the Archives is available in a slightly different version (but full text) here.

Eating for Brain Fitness

A lot has been written on the Web about eating for brain fitness. Almost anyone might want to know if one magic food can make your mind clear and keep your memory sharp. When it comes to eating, there are no magic bullets, but studies give us some direction.

First, you should know that no really good study has been shown that any food or diet can prevent memory problems. That being said, there are some basic dietary principles that make sense.

One of the most basic principles of eating for brain fitness is to eat so that you can maintain a healthy weight. Studies have shown that excess fat can produce inflammatory substances that have been associated cognitive decline.

Sticking with a diet that helps you avoid excessive weight gain can also help you avoid developing something called the metabolic syndrome. That’s a combination of things that are associated with risk for diabetes and other diseases. One of the facets of metabolic syndrome is having high levels of blood sugar. Your brain needs sugar to work, but paradoxically if you have high levels of sugar in your body a lot of the time, you can have low levels of it in your brain.

Eating a diet that is high in fruits and vegetables, rich in whole grains, and low in saturated fats may help you keep your brain sharp. In particular, the Mediterranean diet has been related to lower risk for Alzheimer’s disease and slower decline in people who already have it.

If there are specific foods that are good for brain fitness, it’s not clear. Colorful berries, though, are high in substances called antioxidants and may help preserve your brain function. Other foods that may have an impact include leafy green vegetables (full of B vitamins that are key to maintaining your brain’s function) and other colorful foods.

Research doesn’t really support that idea that any one food is a magic bullet for keeping your brain functioning at its best, in spite of what you may read on the Web. The truth is probably a little more complicated.