The brain-healthy MIND diet provides cognitive benefits even when started later in life, according to a new study. You can adopt healthy habits at any age, like limiting red meat and eating more leafy greens, berries, fish, and poultry, as recommended in the MIND diet.
What the Study Found
The MIND diet, short for Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, was developed in 2015 to support brain health. Initial research from Rush and Harvard showed that this eating pattern may help slow cognitive decline.
A new study presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting strengthens evidence for the MIND diet’s brain health benefits. Researchers analyzed data from nearly 93,000 U.S. adults and found that those following the diet at the study’s start had a 9% lower risk of developing dementia. Among African American, Latino, and White participants, the risk was 13% lower.
Across all racial groups, participants who improved their adherence to the diet over 10 years had a 25% lower dementia risk than those who did not.
“This protective association was seen in the older age group, 60 years and older at baseline, as well as in the younger age group,” Song-Yi Park, PhD, study author and associate professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told Verywell in an email.
Recent estimates suggest that 42% of U.S. adults over 55 may develop dementia.
“Improving diet quality at older ages is still beneficial for preventing dementia,” Park said.
What Is the MIND Diet?
The MIND diet includes elements from the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets.
To follow the MIND diet, you can try to eat:
Daily
– At least 3 servings of whole grains
– 1 serving of non-leafy green vegetables
Weekly
– 6 servings of leafy green vegetables
– 5 servings of nuts
– 4 servings of beans
– 2 servings of berries
– 2 or more meals of poultry
– 1 or more meals of fish
Use mainly olive oil for added fat, and limit your intake of red meat, pastries, cheese, fried food, and butter or margarine.
“Unlike the Mediterranean and DASH diets that recommend fatty fish at least twice weekly or more often, the MIND diet found all fish and seafood varieties studied to be protective to the brain with as little consumption as one serving weekly, a target that seems to be more realistic for most Americans,” said Jennifer Ventrelle, MS, RDN, an assistant professor in the departments of family and preventive medicine and clinical nutrition, and a lead dietitian on MIND diet and lifestyle clinical trials at Rush University Medical Center.
MIND vs. Mediterranean vs. DASH Diets
While the MIND diet shares many components with the Mediterranean and DASH diets, there are some differences between these three eating patterns.
The Mediterranean diet mimics cuisines from countries on the Mediterranean Sea and helps lower the risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and certain types of cancer. People following the Mediterranean diet should eat fruit, nuts, and olive oil daily and have fish multiple times a week.
The DASH diet was developed to help people manage blood pressure, and it emphasizes limiting sodium to no more than 2,300 mg per day and drinking low-fat dairy. The MIND diet does not include specific sodium or dairy guidelines.
Research has shown that you can boost brain health with all three diets. However, the MIND diet works well even if you don’t follow it completely.
“When stacked up against each other, the MIND diet proved to have benefits both at the highest level of adherence and the mid-level of adherence, whereas the Mediterranean and DASH diets only provided benefit when being followed at the highest level,” Ventrelle said.
Translation: You don’t have to be perfect on the MIND diet, she added.
What This Means For You
New research shows that people who follow the MIND diet, which includes elements from the Mediterranean and DASH diets, may lower their risk of cognitive decline. The good news is you don’t have to follow the diet perfectly to see benefits.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Diet review: MIND diet.
Morris MC, Tangney CC, Wang Y, et al. MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2015;11(9):1015-1022. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2015.04.011
National Institutes of Health. Risk and future burden of dementia in the United States.
Harvard Health Publishing. Guide to the Mediterranean diet.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. DASH eating plan.
Morris MC, Tangney CC, Wang Y, Sacks FM, Bennett DA, Aggarwal NT. MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2015;11(9):1007-1014. doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2014.11.009
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