Dementia – a general term for progressive brain decline – devastates families and heaps further pressure on overstretched healthcare systems. Given its impact, there is much impetus to find ways of warding off the threat. Research continues to throw up green shoots.
Cohort studies are a type of longitudinal study—an approach that follows research participants over a period of time (often many years).
The researchers examined the relationship between mushroom consumption and incident dementia in a population of elderly Japanese subjects.
For the study, 13,230 individuals aged 65 years and over living in Ohsaki City, northeastern Japan, were included.
The researchers compared daily mushroom consumption, other lifestyle factors, with dementia incidence.
Lower incidences of dementia were recorded in elderly individuals eating mushrooms once or more a week compared to those eating less than once a week.
“This cohort study suggests that frequent mushroom consumption is significantly associated with a lower risk of incident dementia, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors,” the researchers concluded.
Other studies have highlighted the brain-boosting benefits of eating mushrooms.
A study in Singapore, of 663 people aged over 60, aimed to investigate any link between mushrooms and brain function.