People with multiple sclerosis who consistently adhere to the Mediterranean diet have a lower risk of developing memory and thinking problems, a new American scientific study shows.

The researchers, led by neurologist Dr. Ilana Katz Sand of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, who made the announcement at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston, analyzed data on 563 people with multiple sclerosis.

Each participant was rated on a scale of 0-14 depending on how faithfully they followed it Mediterranean diet, which includes lots of vegetables, legumes, fruit, seafood, olive oil and healthy vegetable fats, as well as less dairy, meat and saturated fat. Participants also took three cognitive and memory tests to assess whether they had cognitive impairment (108 or 19% of the total were diagnosed).

Found out that those who had the highest “score” in adherence to the Mediterranean diet had a 20% lower risk of cognitive decline than patients who ate little or no Mediterranean diet.

In the group with lower score on the Mediterranean diet 34% of subjects had cognitive impairment, compared to only 13% in the best-scoring group.

The positive impact of the Mediterranean diet was found to be even greater in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (where the disease gradually worsens), than in those with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease that shows periodic flares and remissions.

“It’s very encouraging that we can possibly help people with multiple sclerosis maintain better cognitive status by eating a Mediterranean diet. Cognitive difficulties are very common in multiple sclerosis and often worsen over time, even in those on disease-modifying therapies,” said the lead researcher.