A study, to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010, suggested that a Mediterranean diet may help people avoid the small areas of brain damage that can trigger problems with thinking and memory.

Known as brain infarcts, they're involved in vascular dementia, the second most common form of dementia, after Alzheimer's disease.

The Mediterranean diet involves eating a lot of vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals, fish and monounsaturated fatty acids such as olive oil; low intake of saturated fatty acids, dairy products, meat and poultry. It also involves small to moderate amounts of alcohol as well.

The study reportedly assessed the diets of 712 people in New York, dividing them into three groups on grounds of how closely they were following the Mediterranean diet.

They were undergone MRI brain scans of the people an average of six years later. The result revealed that in all 238 people had at least one area of brain damage.

Earlier research by Scarmeas and his colleagues revealed that a Mediterranean-like diet may be associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and may increase expectancy in people with the disease.