While the study had a relatively short follow-up period, in an earlier study of the MAP participants, the researchers reported slower cognitive decline with higher MIND scores over as long as 10 years of follow-up. In that prior study, the authors observed a stronger inverse association between the MIND diet and cognitive decline than for either the Mediterranean or DASH diets. “This [result] suggests that the MIND diet is not specific to the underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease, but perhaps [to] better overall functioning and protection of the brain,” the authors said.
Randomized dietary intervention trials are needed to attribute causal effects of the diet patterns to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the authors said. The authors noted that limited information from the food frequency questionnaire was among the study’s limitations. For example, the question about berry consumption was based on a single item for strawberries, not other berry types, and the response options ranged from “never” to “two or more times per week.”
“Based on this study, high-quality diets such as the Mediterranean and DASH diets can be modified, such as in the MIND diet, to provide better protection against dementia,” the authors concluded.