Assessment
An Anti-Inflammatory Diet May Help Lower Dementia Risk
Smart food choices may help protect your brain — even if you’re at higher risk
Vladimir Vladimirov/Getty Images
A healthy diet matters when it comes to trying to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other causes of dementia. It even matters for people who are at higher-than-average risk. That’s according to a study published in 2026 in JAMA Network Open, which followed 1,865 older adults from Sweden. They were, on average, about 70 years old when the study began, and none had dementia. Researchers analyzed how closely participants’ self-reported diets adhered to three healthy dietary patterns over six years and followed them for more than eight years, on average, to see if they developed dementia.
Researchers found that, across the group, people whose diets were closer to any of the healthy eating patterns had a lower risk of dementia. Importantly, when they looked specifically at the group already at higher dementia risk due to elevated levels of certain biological markers, they found that an anti-inflammatory diet was tied to a lower risk of developing the disease.
More Ways to Benefit
- Related Benefit 1
- Related Benefit 2
- Related Benefit 3
- Related Benefit 4
- Related Benefit 5
Inflammation isn’t always bad — it’s how the body responds to threats, including injuries and infection. But sometimes inflammation becomes chronic, which can injure organs. Chronic inflammation has been associated with a host of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
Even people at risk have some tools to help protect their brain health, the findings suggest.
“This study indicates that dietary choices may play a role regarding dementia prevention both for people at high risk and for those at lower risk,” Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, an associate professor of clinical neurology at Columbia University, wrote in an email. Scarmeas co-wrote a commentary accompanying the research. He says that previous research suggests more than 30 percent of dementia risk is not due to our genetics. There are opportunities to make lifestyle changes to reduce risk. The study was observational; it can’t show that one way of eating staves off dementia, only that there are associations between certain diets and disease.
The researchers looked for three markers in the blood used to indicate dementia risk. Two — elevated levels of NFL (neurofilament light chain proteins) and GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) — are associated with general dementia risk. The third, p-tau217, is specific to Alzheimer’s disease. The presence of elevated levels of the biomarkers in the blood reflects changes in the brain that can appear before any symptoms occur and are associated with possible dementia later on, says Anja Mrhar, first author of the study. She’s a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia and an affiliated researcher at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. It’s also possible to have those markers and never develop dementia.
What is an anti-inflammatory diet?
Participants filled out lengthy questionnaires about their food intake patterns. Their diets were scored according to three healthy eating indexes:
- Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMed) scores a diet based on how closely it follows a Mediterranean-style diet. Higher scores go to diets high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and fish, and with more monounsaturated than saturated fats. The scale also gives points for lower intake of red and processed meats.
- Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) rates a diet higher if it includes foods and nutrients associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases and lower if it includes elements such as sugar-sweetened drinks, high levels of sodium and trans fats.
- The reversed Empirical Dietary Inflammatory Index (rEDII) scores foods by whether they are associated with less inflammation (coffee, tea, dark yellow and leafy green veggies) or more inflammation (red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened drinks, refined grains, margarine).
Overall, eating patterns that scored high on any one of these indexes were associated with a lower risk of dementia. But there were some distinctions when risk levels came into play. While people with higher levels of any of the three dementia biomarkers showed a lower incidence of dementia if they stuck closer to the anti-inflammatory diet, people with lower biomarker levels generally saw a benefit from adhering more closely to the aMed and AHEI patterns.
AARP NEWSLETTERS
Get the Staying Sharp newsletter
Sign up for the latest on brain health, featuring articles, activities, recipes, games and more!
“It’s probably good to switch to a better, healthier diet as soon as possible, but we can also see that it’s never too late,” Mrhar says. The good news is that the diets these three indexes are based on have plenty of common elements:
- More vegetables and fruits
- More nuts
- More whole grains
- Fewer red and processed meats
- Fewer sugary drinks
That’s a great place to start if you want to improve your eating to help protect your brain health.
Dietary changes that encourage reduced inflammation are “beneficial for our brain health,” Heather M. Snyder, senior vice president of medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer’s Association, wrote in an email. And those changes will have more benefit when combined with other healthful habits, Snyder adds.
The Alzheimer’s Association U.S. POINTER Study, which looked at a combination of lifestyle habits including diet, exercise, social contact and intellectual stimulation, showed cognitive improvements for participants at risk of dementia.
Staying Sharp offers plenty of how-tos on eating healthy, including an anti-inflammatory meal plan, along with other meal plans, recipes and tips on all six pillars of brain health.
AARP Membership
Join AARP for only $15 per year with automatic renewal. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of benefits, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP The Magazine.
AARP NEWSLETTERS
Get the Staying Sharp newsletter
Sign up for the latest on brain health, featuring articles, activities, recipes, games and more!
Benefits Recommended For You
Want to read more? Create a FREE account on aarp.org.
A healthy lifestyle helps protect the brain. Make brain health a habit and register on aarp.org to access Staying Sharp.
Not Registered ? Create Account
More From Staying Sharp
Anti-Inflammatory Foods for Brain Health
Eat more of these brain foods to help support your memory and concentration
5 Great Reasons to Eat More Beans
The mighty little morsels help support your heart and brain
Simple and Mindful Grocery Shopping Tips
Shop more mindfully to make healthier choices and eat better