The MIND Diet and the Ageing Brain: What 12 Years of Brain Scans Suggest

We hear a lot about food that is good for the heart. A growing body of research suggests that the same plate may matter for the brain as well. A study that drew fresh attention this month looked not at memory tests but at the brain itself, scan after scan, over more than a decade.

What the MIND diet is

MIND is short for a long name that combines two well-known eating patterns: the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which was designed to help lower blood pressure.

It encourages green leafy vegetables and other vegetables, berries, nuts, whole grains, fish, beans, olive oil and poultry. It suggests eating less butter and margarine, cheese, red meat, pastries and sweets, and fried fast food. It also allows a modest amount of wine, although nobody should start drinking for the sake of their brain.

What the researchers did

The study was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry and was highlighted by its publisher, the BMJ Group, at the start of October. The researchers used data from the Framingham Heart Study.

They followed 1,647 middle-aged and older adults, who were 60 years old on average at the start. None showed signs of stroke or dementia at their first brain scan. Each person had filled in at least one detailed questionnaire about what they usually ate, and each had at least two MRI brain scans between 1999 and 2019. On average, they were followed for about 12 years.

The researchers gave everyone a MIND score from 0 to 15, where 15 means following the pattern very closely. The average score was just under 7, so most people were somewhere in the middle, far from perfect.

What they found

As expected, the scans showed the gradual changes of age in everyone: the brain loses some volume, and the fluid-filled spaces inside it, called ventricles, slowly widen.

But people with higher MIND scores lost grey matter more slowly. Grey matter contains many of the nerve cells involved in memory, learning and decision-making. For every 3 extra points on the MIND score, grey matter loss was about 20 percent slower. The researchers estimate that this is roughly equal to 2.5 years of delayed brain ageing. The same 3 points were also linked with slower widening of the ventricles, equal to about one year.

Some foods stood out. Berries and poultry were linked with healthier changes. Sweets and fried fast food were linked with faster shrinking of the hippocampus, a region that is important for memory.

The links were stronger in older participants, and in people who were more physically active and not overweight. That hints that healthy habits may work best together.

What this does and does not mean

This was an observational study. It shows that eating closer to the MIND pattern and slower brain shrinkage tend to go together, but it cannot show that the diet caused the difference.

People who eat well often do other healthy things too. In this study, those with the highest scores were less likely to smoke and less likely to have diabetes or high blood pressure. The researchers took many such factors into account, but no study of this kind can rule them all out. An outside expert also pointed out that it could work the other way round: people whose brains stay healthier may find it easier to keep making good food choices.

The honest limits

Diet was measured with questionnaires completed between 1991 and 2001, which depend on people remembering what they ate, and diets can change over the years. The researchers could not rule out mild memory problems at the first scan, or account for genetic risk. The group was also not very diverse, so the results may not apply equally to everyone.

Some results were surprising. Whole grains, which the diet recommends, were linked with faster tissue loss, while cheese, which it limits, was linked with slower loss. It is a reminder not to read too much into any single food.

It is also worth knowing that a three-year randomised trial with 604 older adults, published in 2023, found no clear difference in thinking skills between a MIND diet group and a comparison group. Both groups improved, and both had been eating a slightly reduced-calorie diet.

Why this is still good news

None of this means you need a perfect diet. The people in this study were mostly average eaters, and the differences appeared with a few points more on the score. A handful of berries with breakfast, a portion of greens with dinner, beans or fish instead of red meat now and then, and fewer sweets and fried snacks are realistic places to start.

A small, steady habit

Brain health tends to come from many small things done regularly, at the table, on a walk and in the mind. Treeny is built around that same idea. The daily exercises are short and meant to be enjoyed, and Flo, the coach inside the app, adjusts them to how you are doing each day. It is one gentle way to keep your mind busy alongside everything else that matters. Treeny was not part of this study and does not treat or prevent any disease.

A note on how to read this

This article describes research and is not medical or dietary advice. The study shows an association and cannot show that the MIND diet slows brain ageing or prevents dementia. If you have a health condition, take regular medication or are thinking about changing your diet in a big way, talk to your doctor or a dietitian first. If you are worried about your memory, speak to your doctor.