The MIND diet is a blend of the Mediterranean and DASH diets. It incorporates green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale, and collard greens, as well as other vegetables. It emphasizes whole grains, olive oil, poultry, fish, beans, and nuts. The diet favours berries over other fruits and suggests consuming one or more servings of fish per week.

“Given the rising number of people with dementia due to the ageing population, it’s crucial to identify changes that can help delay or slow down the onset of cognitive issues,” stated Russell P. Sawyer, MD, a study author from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. “We were particularly interested in determining whether diet influences the risk of cognitive impairment in both Black and white study participants.”

The study involved 14,145 people with an average age of 64. Of the participants, 70% were white, and 30% were Black. They were followed for an average of 10 years.

Participants filled out a questionnaire on their diet over the past year. Researchers looked at how closely the foods people ate matched the MIND diet.

Remember the following dietary guidelines:

– Consume three or more daily servings of whole grains

– Eat six or more weekly servings of green leafy vegetables

– Have one or more daily servings of other vegetables

– Include two or more weekly servings of berries in your diet

– Consume one or more weekly servings of fish

– Include two or more weekly servings of poultry

– Aim for three weekly servings of beans

– Consume five daily servings of nuts

– Limit red meat to four or fewer weekly servings

– Limit fast or fried foods to one or fewer weekly servings

Aim for one or more weekly servings of olive oil

– Limit butter or margarine to one or fewer tablespoons daily

– Keep pastries and sweets to five or fewer weekly servings

– Limit wine to one glass per day

The total number of points possible is 12.

Researchers then divided participants into three groups. The low group had an average diet score of five, the middle group had an average score of seven, and the high group had an average score of nine.

Thinking and memory skills were measured at the beginning and end of the study.

During the study, cognitive impairment developed in 532 people, or 12% of 4,456 people in the low diet group; in 617 people, or 11% of 5,602 people in the middle group; and in 402 people, or 10% of the 4,086 people in the high group.

After adjusting for factors such as age, high blood pressure and diabetes, researchers found people in the high group had a 4% decreased risk of cognitive impairment compared to those in the low group.

Researchers found a 6% decreased risk of cognitive impairment for female participants who closely followed the diet, but no decreased risk for male participants.

Researchers also looked at how quickly people’s thinking skills declined as they developed problems. They found that people who more closely followed the MIND diet declined more slowly than those who did not, and that association was stronger in Black participants than in white participants.

“These findings warrant further study, especially to examine these varying impacts among men and women and Black and white people, but it’s exciting to consider that people could make some simple changes to their diet and potentially reduce or delay their risk of cognitive issues,” said Sawyer.