From: sheriffcoltrane23x@gmail.com   
      
   Hybrid 'MIND' Diet Keeps Aging Brain Sharp > a hybrid of the Mediterranean   
   diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet   
      
      
   NEWS & PERSPECTIVE › MULTISPECIALTY    
   Hybrid 'MIND' Diet Keeps Aging Brain Sharp    
   Megan Brooks    
   August 10, 2015    
        
   The MIND diet ― a hybrid of the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary   
   Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet ― may slow cognitive decline in   
   elderly adults, according to researchers from Chicago's Rush University   
   Medical Center who developed the    
   MIND diet.    
      
   In an observational study, elderly people who rigorously followed the MIND   
   diet were 7.5 years younger cognitively during a period of roughly 5 years   
   than those with the poorest adherence.    
      
   "Following the MIND diet may be a way to preserve the brain with age and to   
   prevent dementia," Martha Clare Morris, ScD, a nutritional epidemiologist at   
   Rush University Medical Center, told Medscape Medical News.    
      
   The study was published online June 15 in the journal Alzheimer’s and   
   Dementia.    
      
   Scientifically Based    
      
   "MIND" is an acronym for Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for   
   Neurodegenerative Delay. Both the Mediterranean and DASH diets have been found   
   to reduce the risk for hypertension, myocardial infarction, and stroke.    
      
   "The MIND diet modifies the Mediterranean and DASH diets to highlight the   
   foods and nutrients shown through the scientific literature to be associated   
   with dementia prevention," Dr Morris said in a news release.    
      
   The MIND diet has 15 dietary components, including 10 "brain-healthy" food   
   groups and five unhealthy groups (ie, red meat, butter and stick margarine,   
   cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried or fast food).    
      
   To stick to the MIND diet, a person has to limit intake of the designated   
   unhealthy foods, especially butter (<1 tablespoon/day), sweets and pastries,   
   whole fat cheese, and fried or fast food (<1 serving a week for any of the   
   three).    
      
   As for the brain-healthy foods, a person would need to eat at least three   
   servings of whole grains, a green leafy vegetable, and one other vegetable   
   each day, along with having a glass of wine. They would also need to snack   
   most days on nuts, have beans    
   every other day or so, and eat poultry and berries at least two times a week   
   (berries are the only fruits allowed in the MIND diet) and fish at least once   
   a week.    
      
   The researchers assessed cognitive change during a period of 4.7 years in 960   
   adults (mean age, 81.4 years) in the Rush Memory and Aging Project. "The study   
   was not an intervention. We just observed what foods people consumed and then   
   scored them on how    
   well their diets conformed to the MIND diet," Dr Morris told Medscape Medical   
   News.    
      
   The overall rate of change in cognitive score was a decline of 0.8   
   standardized score units per year. In mixed models adjusted for a variety of   
   relevant factors, including age, sex, education, total energy intake, APOE4   
   carrier status, and participation    
   in cognitive activities, the MIND diet score was "positively and statistically   
   significantly" associated with slower decline in global cognitive score (β =   
   0.0092; P < .0001) and with five cognitive domains, especially episodic   
   memory, semantic memory,    
   and perceptual speed, the researchers report.    
      
   "The difference in decline rates for being in the top tertile of MIND diet   
   scores versus the lowest was equivalent to being 7.5 years younger in age,"   
   they write.    
      
   Skip the Diet Wars    
      
   Strengths of the current study include the prospective study design with up to   
   10 years of follow-up, annual assessment of cognitive function using   
   standardized tests, comprehensive assessment of diet using a validated   
   questionnaire, and controlling for    
   key confounding factors. "Another important strength is that the MIND diet   
   score was devised based on expansive reviews of studies relating diet to brain   
   function," Dr Morris and her colleagues say.    
      
   The observational nature of the study is the primary limitation, they say.   
   "Replication of these findings in a dietary intervention trial would be   
   required to verify its relevance to brain health," they note.    
      
   Commenting on this research, Keith Fargo, PhD, director of scientific programs   
   and outreach at the Alzheimer's Association, said, "I don't think we need to   
   be involved in sort of the diet wars. The take-away in general is that if a   
   person is eating in a    
   manner that is heart healthy, that's probably also going to be brain healthy,   
   because the brain does use so much of the nutrients and the oxygen that are   
   carried in the vascular system, and as you age, if your brain isn't getting   
   enough nutrients and    
   oxygen, it is going to be less likely to be able to deal with other factors   
   that cause Alzheimer's disease or other dementias."    
      
   "It's probably not that one diet is going to be the best. It's probably just   
   making sure that you are eating healthy," Dr Fargo said.    
      
   The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging. The authors have   
   disclosed no relevant financial relationships.    
      
   Alzheimers Dement. Published online June 15, 2015. Abstract    
      
        
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   Cite this article: Hybrid 'MIND' Diet Keeps Aging Brain Sharp. Medscape. Aug   
   10, 2015.    
      
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