Nutty Finding: Olive Oil and Nuts Can Protect Your Brain : NBC News

[Stuart G]

NBC News:
http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/20/18380822-nutty-finding-olive-oil-nuts-can-protect-your-brain?lite

By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News

It might seem against all logic, but adding a little olive oil or a handful of nuts to your diet each day may help keep your mind clear, researchers reported on Monday. It’s the same diet that’s also been shown to reduce deaths from heart attacks and strokes.

The researchers found that people who ate these healthy fats were less likely to show the early signs of dementia than those who stuck to a more traditional diet. And this was done in Spain -- where people are already eating a so-called Mediterranean diet.

“Our findings support increasing evidence on the protective effects of the Mediterranean Diet on cognitive function,” Miguel Martinez-Gonzalez of the University of Navarra in Spain and colleagues reported in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The findings come from a large and well-publicized trial that showed the Mediterranean diet rich in fruits, vegetables, olive oil and a little wine can cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent. Martinez and colleagues took a part data on 500 volunteers from their own study center, who were followed for more than six and a half years after starting the diet.

[tridim]

1. Why would that be "against all logic"?

Lemme guess, because of all the people who are duped into thinking "healthy" frozen processed crap in a box is good for you?

Seriously though, who doesn't already know that olive oil is good for you?

[Stuart G]

2. I believe that lots of people don't know that olive oil is good for you

It takes an open mind to know...So many people don't have that.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Probably the 'nuts' reference

Can't be a serious news story without some yuks, yunno - although I consider puns to be the most inane form of humor.

[socialsecurityisAAA]

5. Because the medical establishment has managed to demonize many things that are healthy for us!

Fats are vitally necessary to maintain optimum health. Low fat diets often leave people feeling tired and achy, their hair lifeless and dull and their complexion equally dull and lacking elasticity.

[RC]

4. Not to derail the OP topic, but...

Groups like the Alzheimer’s Association have been warning that the U.S. will have to cope with a tsunami of Alzheimer’s disease as the population ages, with projections that the number of patients with this untreatable form of dementia will triple in the next 40 years, to 13.8 million in 2050.

Alzheimer's and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, have almost identical symptoms in humans.
The last I heard, we still are not properly testing our beef supply for BSE. So, it is a good idea to keep your consumption of red meat and red meat by products (i.e., hot dogs, etc.) to a minimum.