Article by: Dr Zoe Arugay
Photo: Newscom

The Mediterranean diet has a reputation of being the heart-healthy diet - it reduces your risk of heart disease and cancer. But if there's one thing the Mediterranean diet doesn't do well, it's to prevent Alzheimer's.

This was the result in a study conducted by Dr. Brenda Plassman, an associate research professor at Duke University. She explained that their study aimed to pinpoint steps - such as eating the Mediterranean diet and exercising - that people could take to avoid dementia as they grow older. Instead, their study showed that dementia was linked to genetic factors as well as to smoking, diabetes and depression. 

In other words, we don't have enough evidence to prove that a diet as healthy as the Mediterranean diet coupled with exercise would protect cognition.

And I previously hoped that the Mediterranean diet indeed showed promise in reducing the chances of getting stroke or dementia...

However, despite this, the Mediterranean diet still is highly recommended in my book. You can be creative, have a scrumptious meal, and still afford to take wine.