MIND diet & cognitive decline – Zoë Harcombe
Executive summary
* The anacronym MIND stands for Mediterranean–DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. The diet is the fruit/veg/grain/legume, largely plant-based, diet, which we have been advised to consume for years.
* Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) are rare in the field of nutrition due to cost and difficulty. This week’s note reviews a large (600 people), long (3 years) RCT testing the MIND diet for cognitive decline.
* The main outcome of interest was change in performance in cognitive tests. The second outcome of interest was MRI assessment of brain characteristics.
* There were no differences between the MIND-diet group and the control-diet group in either outcome of interest.