A diet developed for brain health might slow or prevent cognitive decline associated with dementia, Alzheimer's and age-related memory loss, a study says.
"Following a MIND diet approach to meals can be a great way to boost brain health," study lead author Dr. Russell Sawyer told Newsweek. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Cincinnati's College of Medicine.
"What I like about the MIND diet is that it is more about what you should be eating and less about what you should not be eating," he said. "As someone who enjoys food, I would much rather add a dark-green leafy salad with nuts, berries, beans and an olive oil-based dressing to my diet than severely limit what I should not be eating."
The MIND diet is a combination of the Mediterranean diet—which has been linked to a plethora of positive health outcomes, from better heart health to general longevity—and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, developed to help lower blood pressure. "MIND" stands for Mediterranean-DASH intervention for neurodegenerative delay.
The MIND diet prioritizes whole grains, leafy green vegetables, berries, beans and nuts; encourages the consumption of other, non-leafy green vegetables, fish, seafood, poultry and olive oil; allows for limited consumption of red meat and wine; and limits the consumption of fast food, fried food, butter, margarine, pastries and sweet foods such as candy.
Sawyer said, "Among the MIND diet components are 10 brain-healthy food groups—green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, nuts, berries, whole grains, seafood, poultry, olive oil and wine—and five unhealthy food groups—red meats, butter and stick margarine, cheese pastries and sweets, and fried/fast food."
He continued, "The good foods are rich in antioxidants while limiting intake of unhealthy foods which contribute to saturated and trans fat intakes."
The study was published in the scientific journal Neurology and funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging.
Sawyer and a team of scientists at the American Academy of Neurology investigated the effects of a MIND diet on 14,145 people, 70 percent white and 30 percent Black, with an average age of 64 years.
Over approximately 10 years, they found that those who ate a diet more closely aligned with MIND were less likely to experience cognitive impairment. Those whose cognition did get worse were more likely to experience a slower decline if they adhered to a MIND-adjacent style of eating.
This association was more pronounced among women and Black people than men and white people.
"Any medical intervention—diet, lifestyle or medication—should be adequately addressed in diverse populations," Sawyer said. "Race is often a surrogate marker for genetic differences, epigenetic differences and cultural differences which can result in different outcomes."
Participants reported their typical dietary patterns in questionnaires, were given scores for adherence to the MIND diet and were then put into three groups.
The low group had an average diet score of five out of 12, the middle group scored about seven out of 12, and the high group scored nine out of 12.
To assess cognition, thinking and memory skills were measured at the beginning and end of the study.
In the low group, 12 percent developed cognitive impairment in a decade, compared with 11 percent in the middle group and 10 percent in the high group—not stark differences.
But once the researchers adjusted these figures to take into account factors such as age, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and income, they found that people in the high group had a 4 percent lower risk of developing cognitive impairment during the 10-year study than those in the low group.
Among female participants, the scientists found a 6 percent decreased risk of cognitive impairment if they ate a diet more closely aligned with MIND. Among male participants, no significant decrease in risk was found.
"No diet or dietary approach is perfect for everyone," Sawyer told Newsweek. "What may be easy for one person may be very difficult for another. Many factors go into this, including personal taste, access to certain types of foods and time available for food preparation.
"The MIND diet is not about fancy ingredients that are not available but [those that] can be found in all grocery stores," he said. "Making more informed choices is the first step to a healthier diet for the mind."
There were several limitations in this study. It was observational, so associations can be found but not cause-and-effect relationships, and therefore this research cannot prove that the MIND diet prevents cognitive impairment.
Also, the dietary data used was self-reported by participants, which is a less reliable method of data collection than some alternatives.
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Reference
Sawyer, R.P., Blair, J., Shatz, R., Manly, J.J., & Judd, S.E. (2024). Association of Adherence to a MIND-Style Diet With the Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Decline in the REGARDS Cohort. Neurology, 103. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209817
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