When it comes to eating, experts agree you should be “MIND”-ful of what goes into your mouth.
There is a proven link between what you eat and the health of your brain. As it turns out, the food that’s good for your heart is good for your head, too.
The MIND diet is a combination of the Mediterranean and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets, said Hurmina Muqtadar, MD, neurologist and Stroke Medical Director at Endeavor Health.
The MIND diet stands for the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and was developed with brain health in mind — all puns intended. It is actually considered the best diet to stave off cognitive decline, said Dr. Muqtadar, and the one most recommended to patients.
“It includes green, leafy vegetables, whole grains, beans, poultry, fish, olive oil, berries and nuts,” she said. These antioxidant-rich foods help prevent inflammation and reduce oxidative stress, keeping brain cells healthy, and helping to prevent conditions like hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.
“That can definitely have an impact on your brain health, causing microvascular changes or atherosclerotic changes in your brain vessels, putting you at risk for stroke,” she said. “By eating healthy, you’re trying to prevent yourself from having these risk factors.”
It limits red meat, overprocessed foods and foods high in trans- and saturated fats, along with cheeses, butter/margarine and sweets.
Dr. Muqtadar cited a 2015 study that was funded by the National Institute on Aging and published in the journal “Alzheimer’s and Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association” that showed the MIND diet was associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and slower cognitive decline.
The MIND diet was introduced in 2015 by Dr. Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Center, and her colleagues.
Their research followed more than 1,000 older, dementia-free adults for 10 years and found that people whose diets most closely aligned with the MIND diet — even more so than with the DASH or Mediterranean diets alone — showed that participants experienced a 53 percent reduction in risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Furthermore, they found that even simply incorporating foods from the MIND diet was better than not doing so. Those who moderately adhered to the eating plan had a 35 percent reduction in risk.
Dr. Muqtadar praised the MIND diet for its flexibility — it’s more of a lifestyle change than a rigid diet — with a goal of incorporating these brain-boosting foods and decreasing the unhealthy foods.
Healthy, MIND-diet guidelines include:
- 3+ servings a day of whole grains
- 6+ servings a week of leafy greens
- At least 1 serving a day of vegetables other than leafy greens
- 5+ servings a week of nuts, especially walnuts
- 4+ meals a week of beans
- 5, ½-cup servings a week of berries, preferably blueberries
- 2+ meals a week of lean poultry
- At least 1 fish meal a week
- Olive oil should replace fats for cooking, etc.
The diet suggests limiting your diet to:
- Less than 5 servings a week of pastries and sweets
- Less than 4 servings a week of red meat (including beef, pork, lamb and products made from these meats)
- Less than one serving a week of cheese and fried foods
- Less than 1 tablespoon a day of butter/stick margarine
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