Latest work in Archives of Neurology shows sticking to a diet rich in nuts, fish and vegetables significantly cuts the chance of developing Alzheimer's.
A 'Mediterranean diet' containing plenty of fresh produce and less high-fat dairy and red meat has long been thought to improve general health.
Experts believe it is a combination of nutrients in foods that is important.
But they stressed that diet was not the sole cause or solution where dementia is concerned.
Good combinations
Dr Yian Gu and colleagues at Columbia University Medical Centre in the US studied the diets of 2,148 retirement-age adults living in New York.
Over the four years of the study, 253 of these older adults developed Alzheimer's disease.
When the researchers scrutinised the diets of all of the individuals in the study, a pattern emerged.
Adults whose diets included more salad dressing, nuts, fish, poultry, fruits and green leafy vegetables, and less high-fat dairy, red meat and butter, were far less likely to develop dementia.
But it is the varying levels of specific nutrients that these food combinations offer that is important, say the researchers."
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