These Two Diets Combined to Fight Dementia and Brain Decline

A new study is showing how you can slow down the natural aging process in the brain by over two years by following a specific diet. Here is a look at what you need to eat to boost brain health as you age.

How the Hybrid MIND Diet Can Slow Down Brain Aging

Eating a combination of two popular diets can slow down aging in the primary areas of the brain by over two years. The results of a new study on brain health signal that combining foods from the award-winning Mediterranean diet with the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet yields the best results for slowing down brain aging. The merger of the principles of both of these diets is known as the Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, otherwise known as the MIND diet.

All three diets are plant-based; however, the combined MIND method is known for its focus on specific foods that have been shown to reduce the threat of dementia. These foods include beans, leafy green vegetables, fish, whole grains, poultry, berries, olive oil, and nuts. The MIND diet limits the consumption of foods full of saturated fats, including butter, red meat, cheese, and fried foods.

According to a senior author of the study, the MIND diet was shown to slow the structural brain aging over the course of 12 years of participant follow-up.  Changzheng Yuan, a research professor at Zhejiang University School of Medicine in Hangzhou, China, said that the participants showed a slower loss of gray matter in the brain. This is the part of the brain that is home to many of the nerve cells used for thinking, memory recall, and decision-making.

Yuan detailed that each three-point increase supported by the MIND diet was connected with a 20% less shrinkage in the amount of gray matter. This shrinkage translated to a 2.5-year delay in the process of aging in the brain.

Previous studies have shown that both the Mediterranean and the MIND diets are linked to a lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and slower rates of cognitive decline. The new study's results further amplify these findings.

The study was published last week in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. The researchers examined the diets of over 1,600 adults who were also participating in a subset of the long-standing Framingham Heart Study. The Framingham study began in 1999 with the goal of looking to identify factors that raised the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Scientists asked study participants to answer specific dietary questions to supplement the regular health checkups. In addition, each participant underwent at least two MRI brain scans as part of the study.

The decreased shrinkage in gray matter was not the only positive impact of the MIND diet. Yuan also noted that those who followed this diet also demonstrated a slower enlargement of the ventricles that usually expand as brain tissue shrinks when people get older.  Every three points of adherence to the MIND diet resulted in a 8% decrease in the development of these ventricles.

The development of a higher amount of larger ventricles is a sign of greater brain atrophy that is connected to cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. The researchers noted that the reduction of the ventricles by the 8% figure reduced brain age by over one year on average.

Scientists were quick to point out that the study was observational, meaning that the results do not prove a direct cause and effect.

What Foods Proved to Be Most Beneficial

How can you slow down the brain's aging process? The study's authors found that two specific foods showed the greatest degree of benefits.

Berries were shown to decrease the rate of ventricle enlargement. This type of fruit has been a mainstay in diet recommendations due to its high antioxidant levels. Chicken was the second food shown to provide the greatest benefits, largely thanks to it being a lean protein source.

Conversely, eating too much fried fast food and sweets has been correlated with accelerated brain aging. Specifically, sweets can trigger decay in the brain's hippocampus, the organ that is responsible for memory function. Fried foods were associated with an increase in ventricular expansion.

What was surprising to the researchers was that eating cheese appeared to offer a degree of protection for the brain. However, the study's authors warned that this did not mean that cheese consumption should be increased.

Also surprising was that eating more whole grains was also associated with an accelerated decline in brain gray matter. Once again, the study's authors said that they would be careful about limiting the consumption of this otherwise healthy food. Because the study covered over a decade, the definition of what constitutes a healthy whole grain has changed over the years.

Nutrition experts conclude that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most when taking steps to slow down brain aging. While boosting intake of berries and chicken certainly will not hurt, it is the combined effects of focusing on these brain-healthy foods that will have the greatest impact.

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