Overview
- The study, published in JAMA Network Open in late June 2026, followed about 1,865 Swedish adults aged 60 and over for an average of 8.4 years to examine links between diet and later dementia.
- Researchers compared three diet scores and found that the reversed Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Index (rEDII), a measure of lower dietary inflammation, showed the most consistent association with reduced dementia risk.
- Among people with raised blood markers tied to Alzheimer’s and brain injury, higher rEDII adherence was linked to roughly 21–29% lower dementia risk compared with lower adherence.
- Scientists measured p-tau217, neurofilament light chain (NFL), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) to identify biological risk, and they stress that the study is observational and cannot prove that diet causes the reduced risk.
- Experts say the findings support testing anti-inflammatory eating—foods such as berries, leafy greens, oily fish, nuts, whole grains, and olive oil—as a practical prevention strategy that could delay symptoms and guide personalized trials as dementia rates rise.