MRI scans show effect of MIND diet on brain health
People who adhere to the MIND diet may have larger brain volumes in areas associated with memory and cognition, new research suggests.
The MIND diet is a combination of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and Mediterranean diets. Centered on boosting brain health, the eating style is rich in plant-based foods, whole grains, olive oil, fruits and vegetables, while limiting (though not eliminating) meat portions. Like most healthy eating programs, the MIND diet discourages consumption of saturated fats, processed foods and added sugars.
“Higher Mediterranean-DASH for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet scores have previously been associated with larger total brain volume in the Framingham Offspring Study community-based cohort,” Debora Melo van Lent, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Health, San Antonio, and colleagues note, adding that prior research has indicated that the MIND diet also has been associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
This latest research adds to evidence that the MIND diet boosts brain health. Presented at the 2024 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, the team’s results suggest that closely following the MIND diet could result in larger hippocampal volume. Researchers determined this after studying the MRI scans of more than 3,000 individuals ages 65 to 74.
In addition to their brain scans, study participants also completed questionnaires related to their diets and submitted a detailed 24-hour food diary. None of the participants displayed signs of cognitive decline, nor had they been diagnosed with any sort of neurodegenerative condition.
Researchers assessed participants’ adherence to the MIND diet using a scoring system of 0 to 15. On imaging, those with higher MIND diet scores displayed larger hippocampal volumes—the greater the score, the greater the volume. However, other measures of brain health as seen on MRI, such as total brain volume, grey matter volume and white matter hyperintensity volume, did not differ significantly based on diet scores.
The team suggested that the results could be due to hippocampal volume being a “more sensitive marker of brain health” in the participants studied.
The hippocampus has many roles, but its primary function is related to retaining memories—primarily transferring short-term memory to long-term storage. Given that significant memory loss is a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s, these latest findings pose the question of whether following a specific brain health-boosting diet could delay the onset of cognitive decline related to neurodegenerative disease. But to that note, the team suggested that more work needs to be done.
“Future studies are encouraged to examine the associations between the MIND diet and amyloid and tau positron emission tomography imaging to elucidate whether a relationship between the MIND diet and dementia pathologies exists," the researchers concluded.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.