How MIND Diet Reduces the Risk of Dementia

If you are worried about maintaining your mental functionality as you enter your senior years, then it is recommended you switch to MIND diet. MIND diet, Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, is a synthesis of the Mediterranean and DASH diets. It is specifically created with the goal of reducing dementia and the decline in brain health that occurs with age.

Both the Mediterranean and DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets are far and wide considered to be some of the healthiest diets available. Populations of people who maintain either of these two diets have managed to live well into old age. The diets reduce your risk of developing some pretty bad chronic illnesses. They can reduce your risk of developing heart disease, regulate and lower your blood pressure, treat or reduce your risk of obtaining diabetes. Perhaps most importantly, as these diets tend to help you live for quite some time, is that these diets improve memory functionality. They also help to reduce your chances of obtaining memory degenerative diseases like, Alzheimer’s disease.

The current theory about how MIND diet functions has to do with oxidative stress and inflammation. Oxidative stress is what happens when free radicals, which are unstable molecules, begin to accumulate in the body in sizable quantities. This process can actually damage cells which is bad, because the brain is particularly vulnerable to this type of damage.

Inflammation is what happens when your body suffers an infection or injury. If inflammation is left untreated it can develop into some chronic diseases. MIND diet is made to counter both of these types of stress and protecting your brain’s functionality. You can start MIND diet by simply doing a little research into what you should and shouldn’t be eating.