Science

Martha Clare Morris, Christy C. Tangney, Yamin Wang, Frank M. Sacks, David A. Bennett, Neelum T. Aggarwal

Introduction:
In a previous study, higher concordance to the MIND diet, a hybrid Mediterranean- Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, was associated with slower cognitive decline. In this study we related these three dietary patterns to incident Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Methods:
We investigated the diet-AD relations in a prospective study of 923 participants, ages 58 to 98 years, followed on average 4.5 years. Diet was assessed by a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire.
Results:
In adjusted proportional hazards models, the second (hazards ratio or HR 5 0.65, 95% confidence interval or CI 0.44, 0.98) and highest tertiles (HR 5 0.47, 95% CI 0.26, 0.76) of MIND diet scores had lower rates of AD versus tertile 1, whereas only the third tertiles of the DASH (HR 5 0.61, 95% CI 0.38, 0.97) and Mediterranean (HR 5 0.46, 95% CI 0.26, 0.79) diets were associated with lower AD rates.
Discussion:
High adherence to all three diets may reduce AD risk. Moderate adherence to the MIND diet may also decrease AD risk.