Iowa (US): The findings of a new study suggests that responsible consumption of cheese, with red wine, protects one against age-related cognitive problems.
These are some of the most significant findings of a study by Iowa State University, highlighted in an article published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
The study, spearheaded by principal investigator Auriel Willette, an Assistant Professor in Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, and Brandon Klinedinst, a neuroscience PhD candidate, is a first-of-its-kind large scale analysis that connects specific foods to later-in-life cognitive acuity.
Willette, Klinedinst, and their team analysed data collected from 1,787 ageing adults (46 to 77 years of age) in the United Kingdom through the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing in-depth genetic and health information from half-a-million participants. The database is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking vital research into the world's most common and life-threatening diseases.
Participants completed a Fluid Intelligence Test (FIT) through touchscreen questionnaire at baseline (compiled between 2006 and 2010) and then in two follow-up assessments (conducted from 2012 through 2013 and again between 2015 and 2016). The FIT analysis provides an in-time snapshot of an individual's ability to "think on the fly."
Participants also answered questions about their food and alcohol consumption at baseline and through two follow-up assessments. The Food Frequency Questionnaire asked the participants about their intake of fresh fruit, dried fruit, raw vegetables and salad, cooked vegetables, oily fish, lean fish, processed meat, poultry, beef, lamb, pork, cheese", bread, cereal, tea and coffee, beer, cider, red wine, white wine, champagne and other forms of liquor.