New MIND diet slows down cognitive decline

THE MIND diet could be the key to slowing cognitive decline among aging adults and preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

A study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago revealed older adults following the MIND diet more rigorously were 7.5 years younger cognitively than those who followed the diet least.

Developed by nutritional epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris, ScD, and her colleagues, the Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets. The MIND diet consists of 15 dietary components—10 “brain-healthy food groups” and five unhealthy groups, namely red meat, butter and stick margarine, cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried or fast food. Like DASH, the MIND diet has been found to lower the risk of cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension, heart attack, and stroke.  

The study, funded by the National Institute of Aging funded study and whose results were published online at the Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, evaluated cognitive change among 960 older adults averaging 81.4 years in age over a period of 4.7 years. The participants were free of dementia on enrollment and were part of the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a study of residents of more than 40 retirement communities and senior public housing units in the Chicago area.

The study included annual, standardized testing of the participants’ cognitive ability in five areas, namely episodic memory, working memory, semantic memory, visuospatial ability, and perceptual speed. The participants likewise completed annual food frequency questionnaires, which the researchers used to compare the reported adherence to the MIND diet with changes in the participants’ cognitive abilities per test measurements.

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According to Ms Morris, “Everyone experiences decline with aging; and Alzheimer's disease is now the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., which accounts for 60% to 80% of dementia cases. Therefore, prevention of cognitive decline, the defining feature of dementia, is now more important than ever. Delaying dementia’s onset by just five years can reduce the cost and prevalence by nearly half.”

According to the study, a person who wishes to reap the benefits of the MIND diet should eat at least three servings of whole grains, a green leafy vegetable, and one other vegetable every day along with a glass of wine. The diet also requires snacks based on nuts for most days, beans every other day or so, poultry and berries at least twice a week, and fish at least once a week.

To avoid the effects of cognitive decline, a person needs to reduce the intake of the designated unhealthy foods, in particular butter to less than 1 tablespoon a day. He or she must also cut sweets and pastries, whole fat cheese, and fried or fast food to less than a serving a week.

The MIND diet specifies the inclusion of berries in a person’s diet.

“Blueberries are one of the more potent foods in terms of protecting the brain,” Ms Morris says. She added that previous studies also show strawberries as having a good effect on cognitive function.

Ms Morris noted that the MIND diet modifies the Mediterranean and DASH diets to highlight the foods and nutrients shown through the scientific literature to be associated with dementia prevention.

“There is still a great deal of study we need to do in this area, and I expect that we’ll make further modifications as the science on diet and the brain advances,” she said further.