This diet can have a major impact on your brain's health.

Eating a balanced diet is not only important for heart health and longevity, but recent studies show that a  few fruits and vegetable may have a bigger impact than others when it comes to preventing dementia.

Dark leafy greens and lots of berries have been associated with slowing down age-related cognitive diseases like dementia. This style of eating is typically referred to as the MIND diet. 

Researchers from University of Hawaii at Mānoa and the University of Southern California followed more than 215,000 participants over a couple decades to determine how following this specific diet could influence the risk of dementia.

What is the MIND Diet?

The MIND diet, also known as the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, combines elements of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet. It focuses on plant-based foods and healthy fats while limiting animal-based proteins, all with the goal of improving brain health. The difference between this diet and others is that it encourages eating more of nine specific foods and less of five others.

9 Foods To Eat On The MIND Diet

• Green, leafy veggies: Six or more servings per week
• Other vegetables: Eat another type of veggie at least once per day
• Berries: Two servings per week
• Nuts: Five or more servings per week
• Olive oil: Use as your main cooking oil
• Whole grains: Three servings per day
• Fish: One serving per week
• Beans: Four servings per week
• Poultry: Two servings per week

5 Foods To Limit On The MIND Diet

• Butter and margarine: Less than one tablespoon daily
• Cheese: Less than once a week
• Red meat: No more than three servings per week
• Fried food: Less than once per week
• Pastries and sweet treats: No more than four times per week

Benefits of the MIND Diet

Following the MIND diet has been related to faster information processing speeds in middle-aged adults than those who did not. It's also linked to higher scores in cognitive performance, such as working memory and verbal recognition in one calorie-restricted randomized clinical trial.

More so, when the diet was given a points system, those who had the highest score had a 53 percent lower rate of Alzheimer's disease. Those with moderate scores had a 35 percent lower rate.

Of course, you'll also receive all the other health benefits from eating more berries, veggies, and whole greens, like help with digestion, brighter skin, and more energy.

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