Diet and Dementia, is there a Link? A Systematic Review.

The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether there is cogent and compelling evidence in the published literature for a link between dementia and nutrition. Six case control studies and 5 longitudinal investigations were included. Most of these studies were methodologically flawed. No clear association emerged between nutritional factors and dementia. There were some weak, positive but unconfirmed associations between meat consumption, intake of total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol with dementia incidence. Conversely, regular wine and fish consumption was associated with a decrease of dementia incidence, a finding which was also unconfirmed by independent data. It is concluded that, at present, no firm links have been established between nutritional factors and dementia. The few associations that have been suggested are potentially important and should be investigated further.