Eating Pattern May Reduce Brain Aging by 2.5 Years

MIND Diet Associated With Brain-Tissue Loss That Is Lower By 2.5 Years, Study Finds

A long-term study found that people who adhered more closely to the MIND diet had lower brain-tissue loss as they aged, but researchers stress that it doesn’t prove that the diet itself slowed brain aging

As people age, their brain volume reduces as part of the normal aging process. This loss of brain tissue can impact memory and thinking abilities, with grey matter reduction being an important component of this decline.

But what if one could slow the progression of this loss? Based on an observational study, researchers report that there is an association between diet and the rates of these brain changes.

Specifically, they found people who adhered more closely to the MIND diet experienced less reduction in brain size and volume as they aged, with the strongest association observed with a slowing in the loss of grey matter. People who followed the MIND diet more closely were associated with having brains that were approximately 2.5 years younger in terms of brain size and volume.

What Is the MIND Diet?

MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. The diet is loosely based on the Mediterranean diet and the DASH eating plan that was designed to lower blood pressure.

The MIND diet encourages the consumption of various dietary components including:

• Green leafy vegetables
• Other vegetables
• Berries
• Nuts
• Whole grains
• Fish
• Beans
• Olive oil
• Poultry

At the same time, it advises against eating foods like butter and margarine, cheese, red meat, pastries, sweets and fried fast foods.

The researchers evaluated more than a decade’s worth of data from 1,647 participants of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort

These were mostly people in their 60s at the start of the study, who provided information regarding their eating habits, as well as had multiple brain MRI scans throughout the course of the study to assess any changes in brain structure.

On average, the participants had about 12 years of follow-up after the first MRI scan, which occurred between 1999 and 2019, and during that time underwent at least two MRI scans so that the changes in their brains could be assessed.

The people with the highest adherence to the MIND diet had significantly less loss of grey matter volume as compared to those with a lower adherence to the diet.

The investigators reported that for every three-point increase in the MIND diet score, there was a 20% reduction in the rate of grey matter loss, which they associated with roughly 2.5 fewer years of brain aging.

The study also found that people who followed the MIND diet more closely were on average less likely to have increases in the size of their brain ventricles

Ventricles enlargement is normally associated with an increase in brain fluid volume and reduction in brain tissue, which occurs as a part of the normal aging process.

Consumption of Certain Foods Linked to Specific Brain Effects Some specific foods were associated with several beneficial and detrimental effects each to different aspects of brain health in the study.

For example, higher adherence to the MIND diet and higher consumption of berries were associated with reduced enlargement of brain ventricles.

Higher consumption of poultry was associated with reduced ventricular enlargement and also with reductions in grey matter loss.

On the other hand, higher consumption of sweets was associated with more enlargement of brain ventricles and greater loss of hippocampal volume.

Fried fast foods were associated with a greater loss of hippocampal volume.

The authors discuss how the consumption of the antioxidant found in some of these foods or high-quality protein could potentially reduce the processes in the brain that contribute to neuronal damage, but this remains to be shown.

Study Also Found Some Not-So-Positive Effects

Besides the positive effects of a MIND diet or its components, the researchers also identified a few factors that had negative associations.

For example, whole grain consumption in older people was linked to adverse outcomes with faster grey matter and hippocampal loss.

Cheese consumption was associated with a number of positive indicators.

These findings highlight the complexity of establishing cause-and-effect, as certain types of food could influence different aspects of brain health to varying degrees

.

The study has several limitations, which the researchers are the first to admit.

For one, the data is merely observational, as they are based on people’s memories of what they ate and on the accuracy of the food frequency questionnaires.

They also note that certain confounding variables like diet changes and genetic risk factors or pre-existing conditions cannot be completely disentangled.

The majority of study participants were also white people

, and it is possible that the results do not apply to all populations.

What the Researchers are Suggesting

This study is adding to the growing body of literature that examines the link between the MIND diet and the health of the human brain. Its value is that it provides long-term data that looks specifically at the association between food consumption and the structure of the human brain, with people with greater adherence to the MIND diet found to have brains that appear younger.

But once again there is no direct proof that following this diet can slow brain aging.

Further studies need to be done to confirm these results, as well as the potential that they might have on preventing dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Until then, it is recommended to eat more vegetables, particularly leafy greens, blueberries, nuts, fish, beans, olive oil, and poultry and reduce the intake of high-sugar foods and fried fast foods like French fries, chicken nuggets and similar items.