The diet – which focuses on fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, fish and olive oil – is “possibly the best strategy currently available” for preventing Alzheimer’s and other conditions involving memory loss, the doctors said.
In an open letter to the UK government, the experts urged the medical profession to focus on the benefits of the diet and not on the many “dubious” drugs flooding the market.
The letter’s signatories insists numerous studies have proven improvements to lifestyle have a “far greater effect” in the fight against dementia than anything else, including medications.
“The evidence base for the Mediterranean diet in preventing all of the chronic diseases plaguing the western world is overwhelming,” cardiologist Dr Aseem Malhotra says. “This includes cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
“Policymakers and the public need to know that such a diet is far more potent than the often dubious benefit of many medications and without side-effects.”
