Alzheimer’s disease is mainly characterized by progressive near-memory loss, overall cognitive decline, and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as personality change and language impairment may occur, and loss of independent daily living ability in the late stage, which poses a serious burden to society and family. Recently, scholars in China have found that healthy dietary patterns are considered the most important protective factor against cognitive decline and dementia onset. Currently, the main healthy diets that are widely accepted internationally are the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet with hypotensive effects. The Mediterranean diet is a healthy diet that has been highly recommended in recent years, and the composition of the diet is simply divided into 1) fish: at least 6 meals/week; 2) fruits: 3-4 servings/day; 3) vegetables: 3-4 servings/day; and 4) legumes, olive oil, nuts, cheese, poultry and grains can be routinely supplemented (Figure 1). In a study on the Mediterranean diet, individuals with high-risk vascular risk factors were randomized to two different dietary regimens, one a Mediterranean diet and the other a low-fat diet with controlled fat intake. After six and a half years of dietary therapy, those who adhered to the Mediterranean diet were found to score much higher on cognitive tests (mainly the MMSE and the picture clock test) than those on the low-fat diet (2), suggesting that the Mediterranean diet has some cognitive protective effects. There is also a diet called the DASH diet, which consists of 1) fruits: 4-5 servings/day; 2) vegetables: 4-5 servings/day; 3) grains: 6-8 servings/day; 4) dairy: 2-3 servings/day (low-fat or 0 fat); 5) fish, poultry or lean meat: no more than 6 servings/day; 6) nuts or legumes: 4-5 servings/week; 7) fats and oils: 2-3 servings/day; 8 ) sugar: no more than 5 servings/week; 9) sodium: no more than 2300 mg/day (Figure 2). Its advantages are mainly its hypotensive effect and its applicability to diabetic patients. A study showed that 124 obese patients with hypertension were randomly assigned to three groups: the antihypertensive diet (DASH diet) group, the DASH diet with exercise and calorie restriction group, and the normal diet control group, and after 4 months of dietary intervention, it was found that patients on the DASH diet performed psychomotor tests at a much greater rate than the normal diet control group (3), indicating that the DASH diet has a protective effect on the brain while lowering blood pressure. lowering blood pressure while also having a protective effect on the brain (3). Recently, foreign scientists have designed a combination of two dietary approaches, the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet, called the MIND diet (Mediterranean – DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay), which combines the advantages of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet and emphasizes the neuroprotective and dementia-preventive effects of the diet. The MIND diet (Mediterranean – DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) combines the benefits of the Mediterranean and DASH diets and emphasizes the neuroprotective and dementia-preventing components of the diet. A recent study showed that adherence to the MIND diet over several years can delay the cognitive decline associated with aging (4). A prospective study by the same team showed that adherence to a healthy MIND diet reduced the risk of onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease (5). Like the Mediterranean and DASH diets, the MIND diet is based on natural grains and limits intake of animal fats and saturated fatty acids, but uniquely increases intake of berries and leafy greens without emphasizing heavy supplementation of fruits (the DASH diet recommends 3-4 servings per day), potatoes, dairy and fish (the Mediterranean diet recommends >6 meals per week). This is because two US cohort studies found that adding two or more servings of fresh vegetables per day was effective in slowing cognitive decline, and the protective effect was more pronounced if six servings of leafy greens per week were added (6,7). The MIND diet does not emphasize the need for a high intake of fish per week as the Mediterranean diet does, but rather recommends one meal per week of fish, and does not emphasize low salt and fat as the DASH diet does. The MIND diet does not emphasize low salt and low fat, as it was found to have no correlation with cerebral protection. The current structure of the MIND diet can be basically summarized as follows: 1) fish: 1 meal/week; 2) legumes: 1 serving/every other day; 3) poultry: 2 servings/week; 4) berries: 2 servings/week; 5) nuts: moderate amount/week; 6) fruits and vegetables: moderate amount/day; 7) grains: 3 servings/day; 8) red wine: 1 glass/day. The MIND diet recommends the “Top 10 Brain Foods”, which include leafy green vegetables, other types of vegetables, nuts, berries, legumes, grains, fish, poultry, olive oil and red wine. There are also five “foods that are not good for brain health”: red meat, butter and margarine, cheese, desserts, fried and other junk foods. Healthy eating is widely accepted as a dementia-protective factor that can be mastered on its own, and healthy eating is also a good habit that needs to be developed and maintained over time to see results. Therefore, it takes everyone’s efforts to pay attention to their health from their youth and to pay attention to prevention efforts to minimize the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases in old age. References: 1. Xu W, et al. Meta-analysis of modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. J NeurolNeurosurg Psychiatry. 2015; Published Online First: 20 August 2015 doi:10.1136/jnnp-2015-310548. 2. Martinez-Lapiscina EH, Clavero P, Toledo E, Estruch R, SalasSalvado J, San Julian B, et al. Mediterranean diet improves cognition: the PREDIMED-NAVARRA randomised trial. j NeurolNeurosurg Psychiatry 2013;84:1318C25. 3. Smith PJ, Blumenthal JA, Babyak MA, Craighead L, WelshBohmer KA, Browndyke JN, et al. Effects of the dietary approaches to stop hypertension diet, exercise, and caloric restriction on neurocognition in overweight adults with high blood pressure. Hypertension 2010;55:1331C8. 4. Martha Clare Morrisa, Christy C . Tangneyb, YaminWanga, Frank M. Sacksc, David A. Bennettd,e, Neelum T. Aggarwal. MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging. alzheimer ‘s & Dementia 2015;11:1015-1022. 5. Martha Clare Morrisa, Christy C. Tangneyb, YaminWanga, Frank M. Sacksc, David A. Bennettd,e, Neelum T . aggarwal. the MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. alzheimer’s & Dementia 2015;11:1007-1014 . 6. Morris MC, Evans DA, Tangney CC, Bienias JL, Wilson RS. Associations of vegetable and fruit consumption with age-related cognitive change. Neurology 2006;67:1370C6. 7. Kang JH, Ascherio A, Grodstein F. Fruit and vegetable consumption and cognitive decline in aging women. Ann Neurol 2005;57 :713C20. 8. Devore EE, Kang JH, Breteler MM, Grodstein F. Dietary intakes of berries and flavonoids in relation to cognitive decline. Ann Neurol 2012;72: 135C43. contributed by Sun Y.