MIND your diet

Is there a diet for your brain? Researchers say yes, and it doesn’t include sugar and French fries.

Marc E. Agronin, MD, a geriatric psychiatrist and Medical Director for Mental Health and Clinical research at Miami Jewish Health Systems and the author of How We Age: A Doctor's Journey Into the Heart of Growing Old, in a presentation at the 2016 U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress in San Antonio.

While a diet can’t change your genes, it can improve your risk factors. The recommended diet favors the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or the MIND diet, Agronin said.  The concept focuses on 10 brain-healthy food groups, including vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and whole grains. It’s not a vetegarian diet—fish and poultry are welcome—but red meats and most oils should be avoided.

What’s off the menu are sugar-laden and processed foods and anythign with a high glycemic index. That includes all sweets, bakery goods, deep-fried foods and high-cholesterol dairy foods like cheese.

Diet alone won’t do the trick. Exercise and mental engagement also are crucial components to a brain-healthy lifestyle. “I think the secret sauce here is doing something mentally active that you enjoy – learning a new language, taking an adult education classes, reading music,” Agronin told the audience. “The important thing is when looking at brain fitness recommendations, you have to cross-train. You have to do something new to challenge your brain. That’s the key thing here.”

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Pamela Tabar

Pamela Tabar was editor-in-chief of I Advance Senior Care from 2013-2018. She has worked as a writer and editor for healthcare business media since 1998, including as News Editor of Healthcare Informatics. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Kent State University and a master’s degree in English from the University of York, England.