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The Nuts and the Oil of It

What you consume today, no matter how young you are, may ultimately determine your risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in your senior years. Current research now considers type 2 diabetes and heart disease to be known risk factors for AD. Both of these conditions may be caused by an improper diet and controlled by adopting a nutritious diet. New studies are also offering evidence that dietary choices might possibly prevent mental decline or at least slow its progress.

The Mediterranean Diet

One of these choices is the Mediterranean diet (Scarmeas, N., et al., 2009). Most of us have heard that the Mediterranean diet is one of the best diet models to follow to prevent the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. One imagines the Mediterranean diet to be comprised of abundant fresh vegetables (especially tomatoes), plenty of pasta, and lots of olive oil—and it is! At present, there is considerable evidence that walnuts and fish may actually be the keys to this healthful diet (Galli and Marangoni, 2006). What do walnuts and fish have in common? Both have an abundance of a “good” fat called omega-3.