THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON A healthy diet

There’s no perfect “brain food,” but eating a nutritious diet ( lots of veggies and fruit, lean meat, fish and healthy fats) is the smartest way to maintain long- term brain function and memory, and to slow the development of brain diseases.

Getting enough of specific nutrients like omega- 3 fatty acids is important but not the holy grail. University of Pittsburgh researchers recently found that people who eat broiled or baked fish at least once a week have larger brain volumes in the areas used for memory and cognition, despite varying levels of omega- 3 in the fish they ate. Senior researcher James Becker concluded that he and his colleagues were “tapping into a more general set of lifestyle factors that were affecting brain health, of which diet is just one part.”

In a 2015 study from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, researchers looked at the broad set of eating habits of more than 900 people over 4 ½ years and found that those who adhered to a diet high in fish, vegetables, nuts and berries, and low in fat and sugar, slowed down their brains’ aging by about 7 ½ years when compared to those with less- healthy diets. The healthy eaters cut their risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 53 percent. And even when those people only adhered to the diet part time, they saw some benefits— an effect that has not been found in other diets, says Drogos.

The researchers dubbed the most promising cluster of these eating habits the MIND ( Mediterranean- DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) diet, which blends the longevity-boosting Mediterranean diet and the heart- healthy low- fat DASH ( Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet that doctors recommend to patients at risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. More studies need to be done on why it works, but in the meantime, there’s no downside to eating healthier and ditching the junk.

The Takeaway: Add more veggies to your diet. Research shows that older adults who report eating more of this food group perform better in mentally stimulating activities than those who don’t.