Takeaways From The MIND Diet Trial

What to know about the brain-healthy diet’s latest study

Hello, brain health ambassadors. You may have seen the MIND diet pop up on your news feed this week. That’s because the results of the much-anticipated MIND diet follow-up study were announced at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This randomized controlled trial aimed to compare the MIND diet with another diet while following a group of people for three years to see who fared better in cognitive health. 

The Good News

If you’ve been following the MIND diet for your cognitive health, there’s good news here. The MIND diet did improve the brains of those who followed it for three years. Hurrah! At the end of the study, they had favorable results for brain volume of both gray and white matter and white matter hyperintensities (tiny lesions that sometimes indicate decline). They also performed better on memory and thinking tests. This was a high risk population for Alzheimer’s, which I’ll go into below, and so this is a cause for celebration. 

The Surprise

The surprising part of this study, however, was how well the control group did, too. All the study participants had measurable health gains by the end of the study—they all ate healthier, lost weight, and had improvements in brain health parameters. But most brain health experts (myself included) expected the MIND diet group to outperform the control group. There were only slight differences in outcomes, however, between the groups. 

Does this mean the MIND diet is not as powerful a brain-protective diet as previously thought? Not at all. In fact, the MIND diet arm of the study was starting to break away from the control group at year 2 with even higher cognitive scores—a finding that is highly reassuring.

Let’s take a closer look at the study to see what we can learn. I reached out to Thomas Holland, MD, one of the authors of the study, to dive into the nuances. But first, it helps to recall what the original MIND diet study was all about.

A Recap of the Original MIND Diet Study

I often describe the MIND diet as a brain-specific spin-off to the Mediterranean diet designed to include more neuroprotective foods. The MIND diet, short for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, is a hybrid of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Both eating plans emphasize whole plant foods and limit animal foods and saturated fat.

The MIND diet focuses on these 10 food groups: berries, leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, fish and seafood, poultry, legumes, whole grains, olive oil, and red wine. It also specifies the brain-harming foods to limit or avoid: fast and fried food, pastries and sweets, butter, cheese, and red meat. 

If you are new to the MIND diet or need a refresher, read here about its 10 brain-healthy food groups and 5 food groups to avoid.

You can calculate your own MIND diet score by using my handy scoring card. Find it at the end of this post.

When the MIND diet study was completed, it was published as two papers in 2015. This one made headlines because those who followed the guidelines most closely reduced their Alzheimer’s risk by 53% after 4.5 years. Even those who ate from the diet just sometimes reduced their risk by 37%. And, in a separate paper, MIND diet eaters actually improved memory and thinking skills over time. This was an astoundingly positive finding for an Alzheimer’s prevention study. 

Since then, the MIND diet results have been replicated in other countries. The MIND diet has been shown to fend off Parkinson’s, lengthen lifespan, and reduce risks for open angle glaucoma and breast cancer. I reviewed this data and more in this letter to you last December: The MIND Diet Perks You May Have Missed.

The MIND Diet Trial 

When I spoke with Dr. Martha Clare Morris back in 2015 about the original MIND diet study, she was already planning the follow-up MIND Diet Trial. Even though the MIND diet study was meticulously executed, it is still an observational study. She wanted to compare MIND diet eaters to a control group and follow their cognitive function over time. This would be a randomized placebo-controlled trial, considered the gold standard for scientific research.