This Diet Could Lower Your Dementia Risk

Eating your greens—and plenty of berries—could help sharpen your mind well into older age, new research shows. A large, long-term study found that even starting the so-called MIND diet later in life can significantly lower a person's risk of Alzheimer's and dementia, NBC News reports. Presented at the American Society for Nutrition's annual meeting, research led by University of Hawaii at Manoa and University of Southern California scientists found that middle-aged and older adults who followed the MIND diet—a combination of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which aims to lower blood pressure—developed dementia at lower rates than those who did not.

Like the Mediterranean diet, the MIND diet is rich in leafy greens, olive oil, and whole grains, but because of its focus on the brain, it gives special weight to foods like berries, which have been linked to brain health. Individual foods are scored based on type and frequency of consumption, with a higher overall score linked to a lower risk of dementia. For example, having two or more servings of berries per week scores higher than having one or none.

Researchers used data from the Multiethnic Cohort, which started in the early 1990s and followed adults from five racial/ethnic groups. At the start, participants who most closely adhered to the MIND diet had a 9% lower dementia risk, with an even greater reduction—13%—for Black, Latino, and white participants. Those who improved their MIND diet scores over a decade saw their risk drop by 25% compared to those who adhered less strictly to it over the years—even if they had not originally adhered to the diet closely, CBS News reports.

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The MIND diet's recommendations include six or more servings of leafy greens a week, daily servings of other vegetables, and limited intake of red meat, cheese, fried foods, pastries, and sweets. Experts emphasize variety in vegetables and note that while the study shows an association, it does not prove causation. Still, the findings align with a body of evidence that Mediterranean-style diets benefit overall brain and heart health. MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, while DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)