MIND diet might slow down cognitive decline in stroke survivors

Researchers have created a new diet that can help in slowing cognitive decline in stroke survivors. Dementia, a condition generally used to refer to memory loss, is common in people who survive a stroke. However, the researchers from the Rush University Medical Center recently created a diet called Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) that can be used to prevent dementia in stroke survivors. The researchers presented the data of their preliminary research in the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2018, Los Angeles.

The researchers made a hybrid of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets. The two diets are effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases like stroke, heart attack, and hypertension.

The researchers prepared the MIND diet on the basis of data collected from the years of research. They analyzed the foods that are beneficial for the health of the brain and the foods that aren’t. There are a total number of 15 dietary components in the MIND diet. These include 10 foods that are essential for brain health and five foods that aren’t. The unhealthy foods include sweets, pastries, cheese, butter, and red meat. To make the diet effective, a person needs to consume at least three servings of green leafy vegetables, whole grains and some other vegetable every day. Also, they should include a glass of wine to their everyday diet and add nuts to their snack list. They should eat poultry and berries at least two times a week and consume fish once a week.

Moreover, a person on the MIND diet needs to limit the consumption of foods that aren’t good for the health of brain, i.e., 1½ teaspoons of butter a day, less than five servings of pastries and sweets. He or she also needs to limit the consumption of whole fat cheese to one serving a week.

The MIND diet has proven to be effective for people who survived a stroke attack. People who included both Mediterranean and DASH diets to their diet plan after a stroke experienced less cognitive decline as compared to the other survivors. Moreover, the diet is also linked to reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease in older people.