Healthy Minute: The MIND Diet For Healthy Brain Aging

The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegeneration Delay (MIND) diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets. It was developed as a result of a four-and-a-half-year study through the National Institute of Aging led by Dr. Martha Clare Morris, a Rush University nutritional epidemiologist.

The study found that people who ate more of the MIND diet foods had less risk for Alzheimer’s disease. People who followed the diet moderately reduced their risk for Alzheimer’s disease by 35% and those who followed it closely reduced their risk by 53%.

The MIND diet recommends 10 items to incorporate into your diet and 5 items to limit.

The 10 things to incorporate into your diet include:

• Green leafy vegetables (at least 6 servings a week)
• Other vegetables (at least 1 a day)
• Nuts (5 servings a week)
• Berries (at least 3 servings a week)
• Beans (at least 3 servings a week)
• Whole grains (3 or more servings a day)
• Fish (at least 1 serving a week)
• Poultry (2 servings a week)
• Olive oil (use as in cooking and dressings)
• Wine, especially red (1 glass a day)

The 5 things to limit in your diet include:

• Red meat (less than 4 servings a week)
• Butter and margarine (less than 1 teaspoon daily)
• Cheese (less than 1 serving a week)
• Pastries and sweets (less than 5 servings a week)
• Fried or fast food (less than 1 serving a week)

Written by: Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Submitted by: Carrie Myers, Dementia Care Specialist, ADRC of NW WI

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