Japanese researchers followed more than 3,500 men and women ages 40 to 64 for two decades and found that people who ate a lot of fiber, especially soluble fiber, had a reduced risk of developing dementia. Researchers suggest that fiber is not only beneficial for our cardiovascular health, but also benefits the brain.
According to daily sciencethe study was published in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.
“Dementia is a devastating disease that typically requires long-term care,” says lead author Dr. Kazumasa Yamagishi. “We were interested in some recent research that suggested dietary fiber could play a preventative role. We investigated this using data collected from thousands of adults in Japan for a large study that began in the 1980s.”
The researchers divided the participants into four groups based on the amount of fiber in their diets. They found that groups consuming higher levels of fiber had a lower risk of developing dementia. They also found that people who ate more soluble fiber found in foods like oatmeal and legumes, rather than insoluble fiber found in whole grains and vegetables, had greater protection against dementia.
Yamagishi speculates that perhaps soluble fiber in the gut reduces neuroinflammation that plays a role in the onset of dementia, says ScienceDaily. Or, fiber may lower other risk factors for dementia, such as body weight, blood pressure, lipids, and glucose levels.
Insoluble fiber passes without being absorbed by the body says Dr Gabe Mirkin. It adds that a high-fiber diet rich in foods containing soluble fiber promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut that produce short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs. These SCFAs help decrease inflammation, which is associated with damage to brain cells and other tissues as part of the aging process.
“Aging is associated with increased loss of brain function, and more than 30% of adults in North America over the age of 65 have dementia,” explains Mirkin. “This loss of brain function may be related to the way that aging changes the composition of bacteria in the colon. As humans age, the number of different bacteria in the colon decreases markedly and progressively. The loss of bacterial variety is associated with an increased risk of brain damage, such as memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.”
Mirkin adds that the typical low-fiber Western diet significantly reduces the number of different types of bacteria in the colon, but a change in diet can quickly increase the diversity and number of healthy bacteria in the colon at any age, even if a diet Low fiber has been followed for a long time.
“Your current diet determines which bacteria live in your gut,” says Mirkin. Even if your colon is full of harmful bacteria, you can change the bacteria in your colon by switching to a high-fiber diet that includes a wide variety of vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and other seeds. A healthy diet, along with weight control, a regular exercise program, and avoiding alcohol and tobacco, will help protect your brain from dementia and many other diseases that are related to the typical Western diet and lifestyle.” .
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