Three years ago to the day, a group of researchers in the US put out a diet targeted at a healthy brain. They’d got together to find out if there was a link between the food we eat and our brain health, and it turned out there is. In fact, nutrition has such a substantial effect that the research found that study participants who ate a particular set of foods (and avoided another set) actually had a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s by upto 53%.
Eating for your brain
Even those who followed the diet moderately had a 35% reduction in risk. Called the MIND diet, it turned the focus from heart-healthy to brain-healthy foods. The research was published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association and the study was led by Dr Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist from Rush University, US.
So what is the MIND diet?
It stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. Both, known for their heart-healthy benefits, broadly emphasise eating wholegrains, vegetables, fruits, nuts, lean protein. While the Med diet was intrinsic to an area, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) was brought in to lower blood pressure, so stresses on low salt and low-fat dairy. Where MIND differs is in its approach to fruit and dairy — the diet doesn’t talk about the former and asks to restrict certain foods from the latter group.
What can I eat?
Daily, eat leafy greens (1 salad), vegetables (at least 1 serving), wholegrains (at least 3 servings), wine (a glass). Eat nuts most days, beans 3-4 times a week (1 or more servings); poultry and berries at least twice a week (preferably blueberries and strawberries) and fish at least once a week. Olive oil must be the primary fat used.
Wine? Really?
“Not just any wine,” says Dr U Meenakshisundaram, senior consultant and coordinator in neurology, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai. It’s got to be red and it’s not port wine or any of the sweet hill wines we get in India. Plus, it’s only a 5 oz serving. You can’t use it as an excuse to drink more daily, and you really can substitute it for any other flavanoid-rich food. This is an antioxidant you can find in grapes, apples, pomegranates, green tea, cocoa (the type that isn’t sugar-laden). “The fermentation also adds to its gut-friendliness, and we can use our own fermented foods such as kadumanga,” says Dharini Krishnan, a Chennai-based dietician.
Anything to avoid?
It limits intake of red meat (to be eaten rarely); butter (no more than a tbsp a day); cheese (not more than a serving a week); fried or fast food (less than once a week). It also asks to avoid pastries and sweets altogether.
- Ritika Samaddar gives us a day’s worth of brain food
- Breakfast: Stuffed omelette with spinach and 1 multigrain toast/ spinach and mushroom sautéed in olive oil on wholewheat toast
- Midmorning: Homemade yoghurt+strawberries smoothie/coconut water and green salad/three-bean salad
- Lunch: Brown rice with rajma/chana and plenty of veggies
- Tea: Green tea with a handful of dry fruit (almonds + walnuts + prunes/figs)
- Dinner: Chicken salad – chicken breast with veggies with a tablespoon of seeds (flaxseeds/chia/sunflower) and tossed with extra virgin olive oil/steamed fish with pickled ginger and a green salad
We didn’t care about the ageing brain traditionally?
We did, says Dr Ashwini Godbole, a biologist who researches Ayurvedic formulations. In fact, our traditional system of medicine recognised the importance of brain function and the brain-gut axis (how the two organs ‘speak’ to each other). She says ghee has been recognised as promoting health no matter what the age, whether it’s in the developmental phase (in children), utilisation phase (in mid-life), or degenerative phase (in seniors). In preliminary research, she has found that ghee alone (and better in tandem with brahmi) extends both lifespan and healthspan. Dr Prasan Shankar, an Ayurveda physician in Bengaluru, lists what Ayurveda recommends as brain-healthy foods: cow’s milk, dates, milk decoctions with ashwagandha, gourds, garlic, moong dal. His recipe for ‘brainy’ chutney: Sauté 1 cup fresh brahmi leaves in 3 tbsp ghee. Grind with ¼ cup grated coconut, 2 tbsp dry-roasted Bengal gram, 1 slice fresh ginger, and 2 green chillies. Add rock salt to taste. Splutter 1/2 tsp mustard seeds and about 10 curry leaves in 1 tbsp ghee and add to the mixture.
Do we need it?
Doctors and dieticians are in agreement that we need a more structured eating plan for those who are ageing: anyone over 45, but we must look at the MIND diet as a guide, not the gospel truth. A dietician breakdown is that it’s a diet high on antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids. But, “It’s not suitable for children and young adults who need the sugars from fruits, and it doesn’t take into account our vegetarian population that gets its protein from dairy, and we don’t all need to stock only olive oil (it’s accepted that using different types of oils depending on the dish is most beneficial),” says Ritika Samaddar, Regional Head, Dept of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Delhi. But it’s a good idea to incorporate some of the habits: a salad a day or nuts as a snack, for instance. Morris herself in an interview said that there was no need to suddenly wipe out fruits, eggs and dairy from the diet. It’s just that the link between a healthy ageing brain and these had not been established. In the end, Dr Meenakshisundaram says that besides diet, you need to “keep your mind and body active, sleep well, lower stress levels, and engage with people, to help you age better and to keep disease itself at bay.”
