The simple diet that keeps your memory sharp

Experts say it’s ‘critical’ to find ways to help people prevent conditions such as dementia and eating vegetables, nuts and berries may help

A diet rich in leafy vegetables, berries, nuts and beans could be key to staving off memory problems, a study has found.
Experts said it was “critical” to find ways to help people prevent conditions such as dementia.
The Mind diet – Mediterranean-Dash Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay – was created by experts, including those from the Harvard Chan School of Public Health in the US.
It recommends specific “brain healthy” foods that people should eat and also lists five unhealthy food items to limit.
In a new study, those following the diet more closely were less likely to develop memory problems or cognitive decline.
The diet recommends eating three or more servings per day of whole grains and at least six portions of green leafy vegetables a week.
It also recommends one or more serving of other vegetables each day, and five weekly portions of nuts, four of beans, and two or more of berries.
Meat is also on the menu with at least two meals using poultry and one or more weekly serving of fish.
Olive oil should be the main fat used in the diet while unhealthy items should be avoided or reduced.
This means there should be fewer than five servings a week of pastries and sweets, fewer than four weekly portions of red meat, and fewer than one serving a week of cheese and fried foods.
It also says there should be less than one tablespoon a day of butter or margarine.
In the latest study, published online in the journal Neurology, experts looked at data for 14,145 people with an average age of 64, who were followed for a decade on average.
Researchers looked at how closely the foods people were eating matched the Mind diet and scored participants out of 12 on how well they adhered to it.
Experts then divided the people into three groups, with the low group having an average diet score of five, the middle group having an average score of seven and the high group having an average score of nine.
Thinking and memory skills were measured at the beginning and end of the study.
Cognitive impairment, which includes difficulties remembering, learning new things, concentrating, or making decisions, developed in 532 people, or 12 per cent in the low diet group.
It also occurred in 617 people, or 11 per cent, of people in the middle group, and in 402 people, 10 per cent, in the high group.
Researchers said that those adhering more closely to the Mind diet had a four per cent lower risk of cognitive impairment compared to those in the group least closely following it.
Women were more likely to see benefit than men, researchers said.
People who most closely followed the Mind diet also declined less rapidly than those who did not, with this link stronger among black people than white.
Study author Dr Russell Sawyer, from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said: “With the number of people with dementia increasing with the aging population, it’s critical to find changes that we can make to delay or slow down the development of cognitive problems.
“These findings warrant further study, especially to examine these varying impacts among men and women and black and white people, but it’s exciting to consider that people could make some simple changes to their diet and potentially reduce or delay their risk of cognitive issues.”
Previous research has suggested that the Mind diet can protect the brain by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation owing to its high levels of vitamins, carotenoids and flavonoids.
Experts say it may also reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
The study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the National Institute on Aging.