This Spin On the Mediterranean Diet Could Help Preserve Your Brain Function

Why are so many diets centered around weight loss? After all, our body mass is just one of many aspects tied to our diet. What we choose to eat every day impacts every aspect of our body and how it functions. Yes, that include our brain. Take the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, which combines features of the Mediterranean diet with Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). It’s a diet with an aim to support cognitive function — and the research shows us that it really can work.

A new study suggests that the MIND diet might be as beneficial for our brain as its apt name suggests. Published today in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, a paper demonstrates that the MIND diet is linked to lowered risk of cognitive impairment later in life, and was even a predictor of cognitive decline in some populations. Crucially, this study offers insight on why this is the case — in part offering general advice on how eating a certain way for an aging brain.

The authors from Ohio, Alabama, and New York studied data on 14,145 middle-aged people derived from the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study (REGARDS). In particular, they looked at information on each person’s diet from a food frequency questionnaire, as well as cognitive performance at the beginning and end of the study. They assessed how closely each person’s questionnaire aligned with the MIND diet, and then compared MIND diet adherence with cognitive trajectory and impairment in the participants. Throughout the 10-year study, over 1,500 people developed cognitive impairment.

After adjusting for age, high blood pressure, and diabetes, the authors found that more closely sticking to the MIND diet was associated with decreased risk of cognitive decline by 4 percent. They also found that those whose eating habits resembled this diet declined more slowly than those whose did not. Just as well, the most MINDful female participants’ risk declined as much as 6 percent. Additionally, the association between the MIND diet and slower cognitive decline was stronger in Black participants. However, the authors stipulate that Black patients comprised just 30 percent.

This diet was full of, well, exactly the kinds of foods you might expect: Daily whole grains as well as frequent weekly servings diverse veggies, fish and poultry, berries, beans, and nuts. So skip the steak and forgo that ultra-processed meal for a diet more full of healthful whole foods. You’re well-treated brain will soon realize — it’s the smart thing to do.