Making home-cooked meals could cut dementia risk, study says

And the benefits may be more pronounced among novice cooks with fewer culinary skills, researchers suggest.

Japanese experts examined data from 10,978 people, aged at least 65, whose cognitive health was tracked for six years until 2022 as part of the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study.

Those taking part completed questionnaires on how often they cooked from scratch at home, with culinary skills assessed on seven factors, such as the ability to peel fruit and vegetables.

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Around half-cooked at least five times a week.

In the follow-up period, 1,195 people developed dementia.

The analysis, published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, found that cooking more at home reduced the risk of the condition.

Researchers said: "The risk of dementia became lower as people cooked more frequently, and the benefits of cooking were particularly significant for those with low cooking skills, ie, little cooking experience.

"Creating an environment where people can cook meals when they are older may be important for the prevention of dementia."

Older people who cooked at least once a week had a 30 per cent lower risk of dementia, the study found.

The effect of preparing meals was independent of other activities such as gardening, work, volunteering and handicrafts, researchers said.

Meanwhile, people with fewer culinary skills had a 70 per cent lower risk of dementia.

This may be because cooking is more cognitively stimulating for these people as it is a novel experience, the study suggests.

Researchers said that preparing meals "provides opportunities for cognitive stimulation because it involves a cognitively complex series of tasks with multiple steps", such as planning, acquiring ingredients, preparing food and serving.

They also highlight that "home cooking has become less frequent".

An estimated 982,000 to one million people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK.

This is projected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040, driven by an ageing population.