Eating more vegetables , especially green leafy ones , fruits, especially berries such as blueberries, dried fruits, giving priority to nuts, whole grains, olive oil and at least one serving of fish a week is what he proposes the MIND diet to fight Alzheimer’s. And it seems to be working.
It is not the first time that the relationship of this type of diet has been studied, a mixture of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet (the latter designed to combat hypertension) with a protective effect against Alzheimer’s . In fact, the study just published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease reinforces the hypothesis that it does seem to work. Something that was already observed in another study from 2015.
The long-term study now presented has found that participants who followed the MIND diet, even moderately, had better cognitive functioning in the future , regardless of amyloid plaques or neurofibrillary tangles they might have. Both amyloid plaques, which are formed by the accumulation of amyloid proteins in the brain, and neurofibrillary tangles are unequivocal signs of Alzheimer’s.
“Some people have enough plaques and tangles in the brain to be diagnosed postmortem with Alzheimer’s disease, but they do not develop clinical dementia in their lifetime,” says geriatric health researcher Klodian Dhana of Rush Medical College.
“Some have the ability to maintain cognitive function despite the accumulation of these pathologies in the brain , and our study suggests that the MIND diet is associated with better cognitive functions independent of brain pathologies related to Alzheimer’s disease.”
The scientists analyzed data from 569 participants who had died during the Project Memory and Aging study that began in 1997. Each of the participants agreed to undergo annual clinical evaluations while they were alive, as well as an autopsy after their death.
Later, in 2004, the scientists gave a questionnaire to the participants to find out what they ate. Using the data obtained, the researchers scored the participants according to whether they were more or less close to what a MIND diet would look like. What they saw was that a higher score on the MIND diet was associated with better cognitive functioning before death. And this was the case both in people who did not present cognitive impairment at the beginning of the investigation and in those or who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at autopsy by presenting amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.
The study, while promising, shows certain limitations . The first is that if there are participants with cognitive impairment, they may not report exactly what they have eaten. “We explored this concern by excluding from the analysis those participants whose first global cognitive assessment was in the bottom 25% of the sample. We also calculated the cumulative mean of the MIND diet score throughout the follow-up to limit measurement error.” explains the team in their new article. Another limitation of the study is that the participants are predominantly Caucasian and this limits generalizability.
And why the MIND diet?
The MIND diet was developed by a team of nutritional epidemiologists at Rush University, Chicago, with the goal of benefiting the brain.
The emphasis on consuming green leafy vegetables such as kale, lettuce, spinach or cabbage stems from the fact that they are rich in nutrients that have been linked to better brain health. These nutrients are folate, vitamin E, carotenoids, and flavonoids .
As for the recommendation to consume berries, such as blueberries and strawberries, the reason is their high level of flavonoids. With regard to walnuts, its protective power of the brain lies in the large amount of vitamin E it provides.
On the MIND diet it is recommended to cook with olive oil and avoid butter and margarine . In addition, the consumption of meat is restricted , especially that of red meat, which will be less than four times a week. Instead, the MIND diet recommends consuming legumes. Lentils, soybeans, and beans, for example, are rich in B vitamins , with beneficial effects on the brain. Fish is present in this diet. At least it should be taken once a week.
Finally, the MIND diet allows you to have a glass of wine a day , at dinner. According to the Mayo Clinic website, the reason may be that alcohol seems to thin the blood flow, preventing harmful clotting. The truth is that more and more studies and scientific evidence recommend avoiding alcohol to keep us healthy, so if you do not consume it, it is probably not a good idea to start doing it for the possible brain benefit.
