A study found that Mediterranean-Dash Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (Mind) substantially slows cognitive decline with age.

The study examined cognitive change over a period of 4.7 years among 960 older adults who were free of dementia on enrollment. The average age of participants was 81.4 years. It was found that older adults who followed the MIND diet more rigorously showed an equivalent of being 7.5 years younger cognitively than those who followed the diet least.

"Prevention of cognitive decline, the defining feature of dementia, is now more important than ever," said one of the researchers, Martha Clare Morris, nutritional epidemiologist at Rush University Medical Centre in Chicago, Illinois, the US.

The strict MIND diet nut would require at least "three servings of whole grains, a green leafy vegetable and one other vegetable every day along with a glass of wine - snack most days on nuts, have beans every other day or so, eat poultry and berries at least twice a week and fish at least once a week."

The findings was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

By Lizitha