Does what you eat change your memory?

Eating well is part of the World Health Organization's new guidance on lowering dementia risk. A special memory diet is harder to back up. In a three-year trial, people on the MIND diet did no better on thinking tests than people who kept their usual diet and cut a few calories.

What did the MIND diet trial find?

MIND blends the Mediterranean and DASH diets. An earlier study found that older adults whose eating matched it more closely lost ground on thinking tests more slowly. But that study only watched what people already ate, and people who eat well may differ in other ways too.

A trial published in 2023 put the diet to a fair test. It recruited 604 adults aged 65 or older with no memory or thinking problems. All had a close relative with dementia, were overweight and had a diet that scored poorly on the MIND scale. About half were assigned to the MIND diet. The rest kept their usual diet. Both groups were counselled to cut their calories slightly.

After three years, thinking-test scores had risen a little in both groups, with no real difference between them. Brain scans showed no real difference either.

The trial measured test scores and scans rather than who went on to develop dementia. So when you read that the MIND diet lowers the risk of Alzheimer's disease, that claim does not come from this trial.

Do vitamin pills or omega-3 help?

Not for protecting your memory. The WHO's new guidance does not recommend vitamin B, vitamin E, omega-3 or multivitamin and mineral supplements for that purpose. There is no good evidence that they help enough to outweigh the chance of harm. A supplement your doctor prescribed for a diagnosed deficiency is a different matter.

What should go on your plate?

The Mediterranean, DASH and MIND diets share the same base: fruit and vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein such as fish. You do not need to follow any of them by name to eat that way. Start from the meals you already make and nudge them in that direction.

Breakfast. Swap white toast for whole-grain bread, or have porridge. Add fruit on top or on the side.

Lunch. Build it around vegetables, whether that means a soup, a salad or a sandwich with a generous filling of them. Choose whole-grain bread or wraps where you can.

Dinner. Have fish one night when you would usually have something else. Fill more of the plate with vegetables, and switch to brown rice or whole-wheat pasta now and then.

In between. Keep fruit where you can see it, so it is the easy thing to reach for.

None of this needs counting, weighing or a shopping list of special foods. Change one meal this week, keep it up, then change another. Over time, your plate will look a lot like the diets in the headlines, without the name.