MIND Diet

Abstract

Age-associated changes in the brain, injuries such as stroke or traumatic brain injury, mood disorders like depression, substance use disorder, or addiction, and diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease will affect brain health. Some factors affecting brain health cannot be changed, but many lifestyle changes have the potential to make a difference. Dietary patterns have been associated with protective relations to cognitive decline and incident dementia in epidemiological studies. An amalgam of the Mediterranean-DASH diets, called the MIND diet, emphasizes the dietary components and servings linked to neuroprotection and dementia prevention. Analogous to the Mediterranean and DASH diets, the MIND diet score highlights natural plant-based foods and limited intakes of animal foods. The diet uniquely stipulates consumption of green leafy vegetables, other vegetables, berries, nuts, whole grains, olive oil, fish, beans, poultry, and wine, but does not specify high fruit consumption, dairy products, red meat, and fried foods. The MIND diet score was related to a slower rate of cognitive decline, equivalent to 7.5 years of younger age. It was evident that the MIND diet reduces a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease dementia and also the diet comprises a variety of nutrient sources in the right proportions.