The MIND diet is designed to prevent dementia and loss of brain function as you age.
It combines the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet to create a dietary pattern that focuses specifically on brain health.
This article is a detailed guide for beginners, with everything you need to know about the MIND diet and how to follow it.
MIND stands for the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.
The MIND diet aims to reduce dementia and the decline in brain health that often occurs as people get older. It combines aspects of two very popular diets, the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet.
Many experts regard the Mediterranean and DASH diets as some of the healthiest. Research has shown they can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and several other diseases ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ).
But researchers wanted to create a diet specifically to help improve brain function and prevent dementia.
To do this, they combined foods from the Mediterranean and DASH diets that had been shown to benefit brain health.
For example, both the Mediterranean and DASH diets recommend eating a lot of fruit. Fruit intake has not been correlated with improved brain function, but eating berries has been ( 5 , 6 ).
Thus, the MIND diet encourages its followers to eat berries, but does not emphasize consuming fruit in general.
Currently, there are no set guidelines for how to follow the MIND diet. Simply eat more of the 10 foods the diet encourages you to eat, and eat less of the five foods the diet recommends you limit.
The next two sections discuss which foods to eat and which to avoid on the diet.
Summary:
Here are the 10 foods the MIND diet encourages:
- Green, leafy vegetables:
- All other vegetables:
- Berries:
- Nuts:
- Olive oil:
- Whole grains:
- Fish:
- Beans:
- Poultry:
- Wine:
If you are unable to consume the targeted amount of servings, don’t quit the MIND diet altogether. Research has shown that following the MIND diet even a moderate amount is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease ( 9 ).
When you’re following the diet, you can eat more than just these 10 foods. However, the more you stick to the diet, the better your results may be.
According to research, eating more of the 10 recommended foods and less of the foods to avoid has been associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and better brain function over time ( 9 , 10 ).
Summary: