Have you heard of the MIND diet? The letters stand for Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and as you can guess, it’s a combination of both the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and the Mediterranean diet.
The MIND diet was first introduced in 2015, when Dr. Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist who developed the diet along with colleagues at Rush University Medical Center and the Harvard Chan School of Public Health, published two papers about it in the journal, Alzheimer’s & Dementia. It was already known that the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet separately reduced the risk for hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and diabetes, but Morris wanted to see what happened when she combined both diets and tweaked them. She and her team discovered the MIND diet slowed cognitive decline and significantly lowered risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease even if the diet was not strictly followed.
Intrigued by these results, other researchers decided to see if there were a helpful relationship between the MIND diet and Parkinson’s disease. Their studies revealed the diet helped with gut health, which is thought to have an impact on brain health, and it appeared to delay the onset of Parkinson’s disease, if not slow its progression.
To encourage public awareness about the MIND diet, Morris wrote two consumer health books about it. Both provide recipes and guidelines on how to follow the diet.
Four key differences set the MIND diet apart from the DASH and Mediterranean diets: 1) an emphasis on eating berries (2 or more 1-cup servings/week) over other fruits; 2) almost daily servings of leafy greens (6 or more/week) and 1 daily serving or more of some other vegetable; 3) 1 serving or more of fish per week; and 4) olive oil as the primary oil. Researchers believe the vitamin E in nuts, olive oil, and leafy greens as well as the antioxidants in berries protect the brain from oxidative stress. This protection helps preserve brain function.
While the current information is encouraging, more research is needed to determine what other benefits can be gained from following the MIND diet. If you’re thinking about trying the MIND diet, have a conversation with your clinician first to be sure it is suitable for you.
References:
Morris MC, Tangney CC, Wang Y, Sacks FM, Barnes LL, Bennett DA, Aggarwal NT. MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. 2015 Sep 1;11(9):1015-22.
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 Sep 1;11(9):1007-14.