Study links anti-inflammatory diet to lower dementia risk, including in people with Alzheimer's biomarkers

Researchers tracked dietary habits and dementia outcomes in 1,843 Swedish adults aged 60 and older who had no dementia at enrollment, measuring three blood biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease and nerve cell injury over six years, then following participants for up to 15 years. During that period, 240 participants received a dementia diagnosis. The findings appeared in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Network Open.

The study did not prescribe a specific diet. Instead, researchers calculated each participant's dietary inflammatory index using detailed food questionnaires. Those whose diets included more vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains — and fewer sugar-sweetened beverages, ultraprocessed foods, and red meats — scored as following diets with lower inflammatory potential. Among participants with higher levels of p-tau217, a biomarker associated with Alzheimer's disease, greater adherence to an anti-inflammatory eating pattern was associated with a 29% lower risk of developing dementia. Similar reductions in risk were observed among those with elevated levels of two other biomarkers linked to nerve cell injury and inflammation.

CNN's coverage, framed as a Q&A with Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and clinical associate professor at George Washington University, underscored both the study's encouraging findings and its limitations. Wen described the research as "a high-quality study" but cautioned against overinterpretation, noting that observational studies cannot prove causation and that food questionnaires rely on memory and self-reporting.