Livadi

A medical research carried out by Spanish scientists proves the beneficial effect of olive oil in brain function. In the new study that was published in the «JAMA Internal Medicine» review, 447 men and women without any mental problems participated.

The volunteers had a mean age of 67 years old when the study started, the evidence also prove that it is never late for someone to change their nutrition in order to maintain or improve his or her mental function. The researchers separated the volunteers into three groups, given that the two of them followed the mediterranean diet and the third group a low fat diet. The first of the mediterranean diet groups had to consume 1 litre of extra virgin olive oil per week and the second group had to consume 30 grams of dried nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds) per day.

The researchers monitored the volunteers for four years, testing them regularly with memory evaluation tests, attention and cognitive tests. Both of the groups that followed the mediterranean diet showed an improvement in their memory and cognitive test results, whereas the group of low fat diet did not. The researchers state that these results are very important, concerning that up till now there are no other effective treatments for problems in mental functions and dementia.

Source: JAMA Internal Medicine