MIND diet, cerebrovascular health, and cognition among community-dwelling older adults

Understanding of the Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) diet's association with cerebral arteriosclerosis, and whether cerebrovascular outcomes link diet to cognition is limited.

We included 713 participants (81 ± 7.2 years old, 77% female, 16 ± 2.9 years of education) with complete food frequency questionnaire, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, and cognitive assessments. ARTS (arteriolosclerosis score), a fully automated in vivo MRI-based marker of arteriolosclerosis, white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and total brain volume (TBV) were computed.

A higher MIND diet score was associated with lower ARTS score (β = -0.009, standard error [SE] = 0.003, p = 0.012) and WMH volume (β = -0.018, SE = 0.008, p = 0.03), and a higher TBV (β = 0.153, SE = 0.07, p = 0.03), controlling for demographics and other lifestyle factors. Diet and global cognition association (β = 0.0506, SE = 0.011, p < 0.0001) was partially mediated by ARTS score (8.5%; β = 0.0048, SE = 0.002, p = 0.032) and TBV (9%; β = 0.005, SE = 0.011, p = 0.035).

The MIND diet score is associated with a lower likelihood of small vessel arteriosclerosis as assessed by ARTS, lower WMH, and higher TBV. Cerebrovascular health may partially explain the diet-cognition link among older adults.