According to the findings of a new study, eating fewer calories may be the answer to memory problems. The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to analyze the correlation between calorie-restricted diets and improved memory in humans.

Studies made on animals have shown that eating less may be the answer to a longer life without diseases, but the findings were not confirmed in humans.

 

The study involved 50 men and women ages 50 to 72 with a body mass index of 28. They were divided into three groups: those in the calorie-restriction group were advised to cut portions, but to eat at least 1,200 calories daily; those in the second group were put on a diet with a higher proportion of unsaturated fatty acids, such as those found in olive oil and fish; the final group had a calorie restricted diet.

After three months, the participants were given memory tests. Those in the calorie-restricted group averaged 20 percent improvement in their memory performance, while the other two groups showed no significant change.

 

“From a public health point of view, you could actually do something for the prevention of cognitive decline from aging,” lead researcher Dr. Agnes Floel, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Munster, was quoted as saying.

“To our knowledge, the current results provide first experimental evidence in humans that caloric restriction improves memory in the elderly,” the researchers from the University of Munster in Germany added.

 

Even though the study was small, the participants had statistically significant improvements in their performance on the memory test.

The findings may help us develop prevention and treatment strategies that could maintain cognitive health into old age. Another recent study has found that walking for 50 minutes three times a week can lessen memory problems for older people.

 

The number of people who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, is predicted to quadruple worldwide over the next half century. Alzheimer’s is a terminal and degenerative disease for which there is known no cure. In its common form, it affects people over 65 years old. The most commonly symptom is memory loss, as well as the difficulty to remember recently learned facts.

In Alzheimer’s, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain affected by the disease.

 

The German researchers suggested that the memory improvement could be attributed to a decrease in insulin and inflammation in the calorie-restricted participants. Lower insulin levels may trigger a response in the receptors in the brain linked to memory. Researchers explained that insulin was believed “to promote aggregation of toxic proteins and promote insulin resistance,” so decreased inflammation would improve brain function.

However, additional studies are needed to verify the findings on a larger population.