A Genius Eating Plan

Scientific efforts to develop a new eating plan to substantially reduce Alzheimer’s risk may be working. Researchers at Rush University Medical Center developed the MIND* diet over a two-year period. They took elements of two proven heart-healthy regimens – the Mediterranean diet and the blood pressure–slashing DASH diet (aka Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). Then they consulted the latest human and animal nutrition studies and tailored a combination designed to boost brain health.

Finally they tested the eating plan on 960 volunteers over four and a half years. The MIND diet reduced Alzheimer’s risk by 53 per cent among those who followed the plan strictly, and by 35 per cent for those who followed it moderately well, according to research published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

The brain-boosting benefits come down to two general principles: limit foods that are high in saturated fats and kilojoules but have low nutritional value, and eat more foods that offer nutrients that help your brain, says Martha Clare Morris, the plan’s chief creator and the director of nutrition and nutritional epidemiology at Rush. “The top nutrients are vitamin E; B vitamins; omega-3s; some of the carotenoids, lutein in particular; and flavonoids,” she explains. On the next page are the ten foods to eat and five foods to limit every week, which make up the core of the MIND diet.

* MIND is short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.