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Health and Fitness

MIND over Mediterranean: Which Diet Works Best?

By Leslee Jaquette
In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal (April 21, 2015), writer Sumathi Reddy explains how the new MIND diet compares and contrasts to the popular Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, which is supposed to help control high blood pressure.
It seems that the MIND diet is similar to these diets that are also heavy on the plant food (veggies) and low on high-fat foods (bacon). The difference is that the MIND diet is particularly gung-ho about brain healthy foods such as green leafy vegetables, berries and nuts.
A study at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that all three diets lessened the chances of getting Alzheimer’s. But only the MIND diet was the only one that worked when people only followed some of its recommendations.
MindThe research showed that people who adhered strictly to the MIND diet had a 53 percent  reduced risk for developing Alzheimer’s. Risk was reduced by 54 percent with the Med diet and 39 percent with DASH.
The big news was that even moderate adherence to the MIND diet helped lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s by 35 percent.
This research feeds the latest view that lifestyle factors, just not genetics, plays a big part in who will develop Alzheimer’s.
About the names – MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurogenerative Delay. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
Interestingly, the MIND diet developers found that just any old fruit didn’t impact cognitive delay. However, berries and especially blueberries have. Subsequently, the diet recommends people eat berries at least twice a week.minddietalzheimersdisease0_743081
The MIND diet includes one serving of leafy greens in addition to eating one other vegetable each day. It is also heavy on nuts, beans, olive oil and whole grains. It also recommends a glass of wine a day, which the others suggest as well. Cocoa and caffeine (yeah!) may be added to the MIND diet after more study.