A Registered Dietitian Explains How Nutrition Can Support Brain Health

What you eat is an important part of your brain health toolbox, which you can use just by following some simple daily guidelines. I see a healthy diet as a powerful but under-appreciated way to support your current cognitive health and reduce the risk of developing conditions like Alzheimer’s disease.

The MIND Diet for Brain Health

The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet has stood the test of time for supporting brain health.

It combines two excellent nutritional approaches, the Mediterranean diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and translates into eating to protect how well your brain functions, now and as you age. It’s probably the best researched dietary pattern for brain health.

What the MIND Diet Recommends

Most people are already familiar with the foods that form the MIND diet. It’s very similar to the Mediterranean diet, but it recommends less seafood, making it easier for some people to follow. There’s also no need to seek out super-specific, expensive, rare foods.

A brain-healthy diet can fit easily into many cultures and traditions. Food is much more than just a package of nutrients, so eating familiar foods tied to joy, traditions, and heritage is important.

The foods recommended in the MIND diet include:

• Dark, leafy greens like bok choy and kale: These veggies appear to be most closely tied to protecting the brain, so try to eat them every day.
• Different-colored vegetables: Like carrots or beets
• Nuts: Particularly walnuts
• Berries: Particularly blueberries
• Beans and legumes: Including black beans, lentils, and soybeans
• Whole grains: Including oatmeal, whole wheat bread, and brown rice
• Lean protein: Including lean cuts of chicken and pork, and omega-3-rich fish like anchovies and sardines
• Extra-virgin olive oil: Which provides more polyphenols than other olive oil

How Food Feeds the Brain

The brain needs lots of energy from both macronutrients and micronutrients to do all the amazing things it does, and your brain health is inextricable from your general health. As a registered dietitian nutritionist, I recommend whole foods before supplements, but some data suggest that a multivitamin may help you get the nutrients you need.

Macronutrients

Macronutrients include proteins, carbs, and fats:

• Lean protein is low in saturated fat to avoid fatty deposits.
• Healthy carbs provide fiber and can help control blood sugar.
• The type of fat the brain prefers is omega-3 fatty acids, whether from fish, walnuts, or foods like chia seeds and flaxseeds.

Micronutrients

Micronutrients are the small amounts of vitamins and minerals that are also important to good brain function. Leafy greens, one of the best “brain foods,” provide folate, which addresses a cause of inflammation, and vitamin E, a powerful ally against oxidative stress (an imbalance between damaging free radicals and antioxidants in cells).

Research suggests micronutrients may help with age-related cognitive concerns.

Bioactives

Bioactives are a group of compounds that have a positive effect on our brain’s ability to stay healthy. They include phytonutrients that help the brain use the energy that food delivers, including:

Fruits and vegetables are usually very good sources of bioactives, as are whole grains, nuts, beans, olive oil, and tea.

Long Term Benefits from a Brain-Healthy Diet

Alzheimer’s disease might be more prevalent after we’re 65, but it’s really what we do when we’re doing at 45 that starts us on a path that can preserve or damage our cognitive health.

Over time, a healthy diet can prevent or reduce damage from inflammation and oxidative stress (an imbalance between damaging free radical compounds and antioxidants in cells), which one study showed could lower the risk of dementia.

What Are the Short-Term Benefits of a Brain-Healthy Diet?

You may feel the benefits of brain-healthy foods the same day you eat them. Having mixed berries for breakfast may lead to better mental performance in the afternoon.

When I have a big presentation or a very important day ahead of me, I always start that morning with a polyphenol-rich smoothie. It’s got wild blueberries, walnuts, and a healthy protein like soy milk or Greek yogurt.

Food to Avoid for a Healthy Brain

Foods that can have a negative impact on your brain are those with saturated fat, excess salt, and added sugar. Culprits include lots of butter, full-fat hard cheeses, pastries, sweets, fatty cuts of red meat, and fried foods, including fast foods.

The MIND diet doesn’t eliminate any foods though. It’s important that people enjoy foods that are meaningful to them, so think of it as a rebalancing, with emphasis on healthy foods rather than those that may do more harm than help.

A brain-healthy diet can be delicious and easy while protecting one of our most precious organs.

As told to Nancy LeBrun