Eating Nuts in Your Forties Could Cut Dementia Risk in Later Life, Study Finds

A study in Age and Ageing from the National University of Singapore found that eating nuts from one's 40s onwards could help ward off dementia later, reports The Independent . The authors followed roughly 17,000 people from 1993 to 2016, assessing first their diets and, later, their cognitive function. Those who started eating nuts in their 40s twice weekly or more were more than 20 percent less likely to have memory difficulties when they were over 60, compared with those who ate nuts less than about once monthly. In addition, people who ate nuts once a week had almost the same benefit, as they were 19 percent less likely to have impaired cognitive function in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. A 2019 study in the Journal of Nutrition, Health, and Ageing of nearly 5,000 people older than 55 by the University of South Australia learned that eating just two teaspoons of nuts each day also improved cognitive function. Nut consumption could enhance thinking, memory, and reasoning by up to 60 percent, compared with those who did not have nuts in their diet.