MIND diet linked to improved focus in children: Study

A recent study suggests that a diet created to prevent cognitive decline in adults may also help increase attention in pre-adolescents. The new study looked at the heart-healthy Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet. It combines the Mediterranean diet with the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and the Healthy Eating Index - 2015 (HEI-2015), which is based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Shelby Keye, Ph.D., who performed the work as a doctoral student in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said, “We assessed how adherence to these diets was associated with children’s attentional inhibition - the ability to resist distracting stimuli - and found that only the MIND diet was positively linked with children’s performance on a task assessing attentional inhibition. This suggests that the MIND diet could have the potential to improve children’s cognitive development, which is important for success in school.”
The diet in question emphasises fresh fruit, vegetables, and legumes like beans, lentils, and peas. However, it also includes recommendations for specific foods, such as leafy greens and berries, which promote brain health. The new research used data collected in a previous cross-sectional study led by Naiman Khan, Ph.D., a professor of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.