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Mediterranean diet and risk for Alzheimer's disease
Nikolaos Scarmeas, Yaakov Stern, Ming‐Xin Tang, Richard P Mayeux, Jose Alejandro Luchsinger. Annals of Neurology, 2006-04-18
Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis
OBJECTIVE: Previous research in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has focused on individual dietary components. There is converging evidence that composite dietary patterns such as the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) is related to lower risk for cardiovascular disease, several forms of cancer, and overall mortality. We sought to investigate the association between MeDi and risk for AD. METHODS: A total of 2,258 community-based nondemented individuals in New York were prospectively evaluated every 1.5 years. Adherence to the MeDi (zero- to nine-point scale with higher scores indicating higher adherence) was the main predictor in models that were adjusted for cohort, age, sex, ethnicity, education, apolipoprotein E genotype, caloric intake, smoking, medical comorbidity index, and body mass index. RESULTS: There were 262 incident AD cases during the course of 4 (+/-3.0; range, 0.2-13.9) years of follow-up. Higher adherence to the MeDi was associated with lower risk for AD (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.83-0.98; p=0.015). Compared with subjects in the lowest MeDi tertile, subjects in the middle MeDi tertile had a hazard ratio of 0.85 (95% confidence interval, 0.63-1.16) and those at the highest tertile had a hazard ratio of 0.60 (95% confidence interval, 0.42-0.87) for AD (p for trend=0.007). INTERPRETATION: We conclude that higher adherence to the MeDi is associated with a reduction in risk for AD.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Scarmeas, N., Stern, Y., Tang, M., Mayeux, R. P., & Luchsinger, J. A. (2006). Mediterranean diet and risk for Alzheimer's disease. Annals of Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.20854
Vancouver
Scarmeas N, Stern Y, Tang M, Mayeux RP, Luchsinger JA. Mediterranean diet and risk for Alzheimer's disease. Annals of Neurology. 2006. doi:10.1002/ana.20854. PMID: 16622828.
BibTeX
@article{scarmeas2006-16622828,
author = {Scarmeas, Nikolaos and Stern, Yaakov and Tang, Ming‐Xin and Mayeux, Richard P and Luchsinger, Jose Alejandro},
title = {{Mediterranean diet and risk for Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Annals of Neurology},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1002/ana.20854},
pmid = {16622828},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.20854}
}
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Why it matters
Among 2,258 people in New York without dementia, followed for an average of 4 years, higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk for Alzheimer's disease. People in the highest tertile of adherence had a lower risk than those in the lowest.
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How this study scored 56/100
Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on strength of evidence, so that was left out: it earned 53 of the 95 points we could judge it on, which is 56 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Annals of Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | Annals of Neurology: journal h-index 437 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | — / 5 | No evidence rating recorded — left out of this score |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2006 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 7 / 7 | Cited 1,106 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 5 / 5 | 50.3 citations a year over 22 year(s) since 2006 |
| Impact for its field and year | 6 / 6 | Cited 44.5× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 129 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Jose Alejandro Luchsinger: h-index 78 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | Columbia University: institution h-index 1,824 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 16622828) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Points | 53 / 95 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 53 of the 95 points we could judge it on is 56 out of 100. |
| Total | 56 / 100 | — |
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