summary: Recent research has revealed the importance of a long-term commitment to the MIND diet in promoting brain health.
The study, the first randomized clinical trial of its kind, found short-term cognitive improvements within the first two years, but no significant differences between the MIND diet and the calorie-restricted control diet over three years. It was observed that no Nevertheless, the researchers stress that benefits of the MIND diet are likely to emerge over the long term, consistent with previous observational data.
The MIND Diet is known to have positive effects on brain health, slow cognitive decline, and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Important facts:
- In a 3-year clinical trial, the MIND diet group showed improvement in cognitive function in the first 2 years, but no significant difference was seen compared to the control diet group by the end of the study.
- This study was the first randomized clinical trial aimed at testing the effects of diet on cognitive performance and involved individuals aged 65 and older without cognitive impairment.
- The MIND diet, which combines the Mediterranean and DASH diets, has been ranked in the top 5 diets by US News & World Report for six years in a row.
sauce: Rush University
New research shows the importance of a long-term commitment to the MIND diet for maximum brain health benefits.
“While the benefits of the new study in the 3-year clinical trial were not as impressive as those seen in previous MIND dietary observational studies, they were consistent with long-term effects, suggesting short-term cognitive benefits. There was an improvement, “observational data,” said lead study author Lisa Barnes, Ph.D., associate director of the RUSH Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research.
The research results are New England Journal of Medicine, showed that within 3 years, there were no statistically significant differences in cognitive changes in participants in the MIND diet group compared to the normal diet control group. Both groups were instructed to reduce calories by 250 kcal per day. However, there was significant improvement in his first two years of study.
“What we observed was cognitive improvement in both groups, but the MIND dietary intervention group did show a modest improvement in cognition, although not a significant improvement,” Burns said. said.
“Both groups lost about 5 kilograms in weight over 3 years, and this study suggests that weight loss may have benefited cognitive function.”
“Exciting” improvement
This is the first randomized clinical trial designed to test the effects of a diet thought to protect brain health on cognitive decline in a large group of individuals age 65 and older without cognitive impairment. It’s an exam. The MIND Diet has been ranked in the top 5 diets each year by US News & World Report for the past six years.
“There is well-established research showing that a person’s diet affects health,” Barnes says. “Participants in this study had to follow a suboptimal diet, determined by a dietary screening instrument score of 8 or less, before the study began. It is reasonable to assume that it would reduce the rate of cognitive decline.”
“I was very pleased to see improvements in cognitive performance in the first year or so, but this may be due to the effect of practice on cognitive tests, as well as on a control diet focused solely on calorie restriction. We saw the effect of
Earlier research by the late Dr. Martha Claire Morris showed a slower rate of decline in people who ate certain foods. Morris is a nutritional epidemiologist at RUSH, the first of the MIND Dietary Study funded by a $14.5 million National Institutes of Health grant and involving two clinical sites: RUSH in Chicago and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. was the principal investigator.
In 2015, Morris, RUSH, and colleagues at Harvard University developed the MIND diet, which stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, in preparation for a clinical trial.
This diet is based on the most compelling research on foods and nutrients that affect brain health. As the name suggests, the MIND diet is a hybrid of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Fight Hypertension) diet.
Both diets have been found to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attack and stroke. In two studies published in 2015, Morris et al. found that the MIND diet slowed cognitive decline and significantly reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, even if the diet was not meticulously followed. I have found that it can be lowered..
The study followed 604 participants over three years
The latest study of the MIND diet to prevent cognitive decline in older adults was a randomized phase III study in 604 people who were overweight, had a suboptimal diet, and had a family history of Alzheimer’s disease. rice field.
The trial compared two different diets. Both regimens included dietary counseling with a mild caloric restriction he had of 250 calories per day for weight loss.
Participants in both groups had individualized dietary guidelines developed by a nutritionist and underwent regular telephone and face-to-face consultations, as well as occasional group sessions, during the 3-year study period.
Participants were interviewed five times over three years to assess mental performance, blood pressure, diet, physical activity, health status, and drug use.
“Participants in both groups received a great deal of support and accountability from a trained registered dietitian,” says Jennifer, assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Clinical Nutrition and principal dietitian for the MIND diet trial at RUSH. Mr Bentrel said.
“The good news is that while this helped all participants improve on average, it unfortunately hampered our ability to detect large differences between the two groups in this relatively short period of time.” is.
“Current and future studies will compare people instructed to follow a diet in this manner to those following a usual diet in a form more like usual care, such as short clinical visits and less supportive self-directed programs. We will consider it.”
“By the end of the study, the average weight loss for all participants was approximately 5.5% of their initial weight, exceeding the study goal of 3%. It’s been acknowledged as important,” said Ventrel.
“Previous studies have shown that the mean MIND score at the end of three years was 11.0 in the MIND group and 8.3 in the control group, and both groups were within the therapeutic range for slowing cognitive decline and reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. .”
“Significant weight loss and improved MIND scores suggest that the control group also improved their diet, and a MIND diet with a score of at least 8.3 and a reduction of at least 250 calories for weight loss improved cognitive function. It may suggest that there is a possibility that Further research is needed to confirm this. “
Fish, poultry, berries, nuts, leafy greens
The MIND diet includes 14 dietary elements, including 9 “brain-healthy food groups” such as chicken, fish, leafy green vegetables, berries, and nuts; Full-fat cheeses, pastries and sweets, fried foods, etc.
“Randomized trials are the gold standard for establishing a causal link between diet and incidence of Alzheimer’s disease,” Barnes said.
“These people were healthy at the start of the study and had no cognitive impairment, but over time they got slightly better,” Barnes said.
“The reason there was no difference between the two diet groups at the end of the trial could be the result of a number of factors, including the fact that the control group had a relatively healthy diet.
“Going forward, we will look at the associations between specific food groups and biomarkers measured in the blood to see if certain nutrients or food groups are more important than others because: “These two groups were initially quite healthy from a dietary standpoint.”
About this diet and cognition research news
author: Nancy DiFiore
sauce: Rush University
contact: Nancy DiFiore – Rush University
image: Image credited to Neuroscience News
Original research: closed access.
“Trial of the MIND diet to prevent cognitive decline in the elderlyBy Lisa Barnes et al. NJEM
overview
Trial of the MIND diet to prevent cognitive decline in the elderly
Background
Results from observational studies suggest that dietary patterns may provide a protective effect against cognitive decline, but data from clinical trials are limited. The Mediterranean-DASH intervention for delayed neurodegeneration, known as the MIND diet, is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Prevent Hypertension) diets, modified to incorporate foods presumed to reduce dementia risk. It has been. .
Method
We conducted a two-center study of older adults without cognitive impairment but with a family history of dementia and a body mass index (weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) >25. A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Suboptimal diet as determined by a 14-item questionnaire to test the cognitive effects of a mildly calorie-restricted MIND diet compared to a mildly calorie-restricted control diet. Participants were assigned to follow an intervention or control diet in a 1:1 ratio for 3 years.
All participants received counseling regarding adherence to the prescribed diet and support to facilitate weight loss. The primary endpoint was change from baseline in the global cognitive score and four cognitive domain scores, all derived from a 12-test battery. Raw scores for each test were converted to Z-scores, averaged across all tests to create an overall cognitive score, and averaged across component tests to create four domain scores. A higher score indicates better cognitive ability. A secondary outcome was the change from baseline in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of brain characteristics in a non-random sample of participants.
result
A total of 1929 were screened and 604 were enrolled. 301 were assigned to his MIND diet group and 303 to the control diet group. The trial was completed by his 93.4% of participants. From baseline to year 3, improvements in global cognitive scores were observed in both groups, with an increase of 0.205 standardized units in the MIND diet group and 0.170 standardized units in the control diet group (mean difference, 0.035 normalized units, 95% confidence) interval, -0.022 to 0.092; P = 0.23). Changes in white matter hyperintensity on MRI, hippocampal volume, and total gray and white matter volume were similar in he two groups.
Conclusion
Among non-cognitively impaired participants with a family history of dementia, changes in cognitive function and brain MRI results from baseline to year 3 were compared in participants on the MIND diet versus controls with mild calorie restriction. There were no significant differences between chow-fed participants. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging, ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02817074.open in new tab. )
