The association of MIND diet with cognitive resilience to neuropathologies

Abstract

Introduction: Cognitive resilience (CR) can be defined as the continuum of better through worse than expected cognition, given the degree of neuropathology. The relation of healthy diet patterns to CR remains to be elucidated.

Methods: Using longitudinal cognitive data and post mortem neuropathology from 578 deceased older adults, we examined associations between the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet at baseline and two standardized CR measures reflecting higher cognitive levels over time (CR ${}_{\overline{\mathrm{Level}}}$ ), and slower decline (CR_Slope ), than expected given neuropathology.

Results: Compared to individuals in the lowest tertile of MIND score, those in the top tertile had higher CR ${}_{\overline{\mathrm{Level}}}$ (mean difference [MD] = 0.34; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.14, 0.55) and CR_Slope (MD = 0.27; 95% CI = 0.05, 0.48), after multivariable adjustment. Overall MIND score was more strongly related to CR than the individual food components.

Discussion: The MIND diet is associated with both higher cognition and slower rates of cognitive decline, after controlling for neuropathology, indicating the MIND diet may be important to cognitive resilience.

Keywords: Alzheimer's dementia; Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay diet; cognitive resilience; longitudinal study; neuropathology; nutrition.