# MIND Diet Intervention to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $5,356,351

## Abstract

This R01 application, “MIND Diet Intervention to Prevent Alzheimer Disease,” is a Phase III randomized
controlled trial designed to test the effects of a 3-year intervention of a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH
diets, called MIND, on cognitive decline among 600 individuals 65+ years without cognitive impairment who
are overweight and have suboptimal diets. The proposed MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for
Neurodegenerative Delay) is a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets but with selected modifications
based on the most compelling evidence in the diet-dementia field. The MIND diet has the same basic
components of the DASH and Mediterranean diets, such as emphasis on natural plant-based foods and limited
animal and high saturated fat foods, but uniquely specifies green leafy vegetables and berries as well as food
component servings that reflect the nutrition-dementia evidence. There is a substantial body of evidence from
epidemiological, animal and laboratory studies to link diet to brain health. Thus, the field is primed for the
conduct of a large-scale prevention trial to establish a causal relation between diet and AD prevention.
Establishing such a relation would greatly impact the public health and provide credibility to or refute numerous
claims that various foods and dietary patterns are protective against AD. Dietary guidelines could be
developed from the trial for use in clinical practice to inform patients about disease prevention. The proposed
hybrid diet intervention has demonstrated effects on the prevention and treatment of most of the primary AD
risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes, and the suppression of the two major underlying mechanisms
of AD, oxidative stress and inflammation. The trial will employ a parallel group design comparing the effects on
cognitive outcomes of the MIND intervention diet plus mild caloric restriction for weight loss to the control diet,
usual diet with mild caloric restriction for weight loss. Biological effects of the MIND diet will be assessed by
measurement of brain macro- and micro-structural integrity in 300 randomly selected participants. Other
biochemical markers will be assessed in the entire cohort of 600 participants, including: plasma Abeta
42/Abeta 40, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and plasma markers of oxidative stress and
inflammation. In addition, the trial will examine potential effect mediators and modifiers by a number of
cardiovascular risk factors, AD biomarkers, and biological mechanisms. The proposed study has two clinical
sites, one in Chicago (Rush University) and one in Boston (Harvard University), and centralized laboratories for
data coordinating and analyses (Brigham & Women’s Hospital), neuroimaging analyses (Rush University), and
specialized laboratories for tissue biochemical analyses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9899178
- **Project number:** 5R01AG052583-05
- **Recipient organization:** RUSH UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Lisa L Barnes
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $5,356,351
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2016-04-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9899178

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9899178, MIND Diet Intervention to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease (5R01AG052583-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9899178. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*