Healthy nutrition makes for a bigger brain?

A study published in the journal Neurology suggests that people who eat diets full of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and fish may have bigger brains than those who consume a nutritionally-unbalanced diet. The study, conducted in the Netherlands, included more than 4,200 people aged 45 and older at the start. The participants completed a survey about what types and how much food they ate over the past month. The survey included almost 400 food items.

The researchers then looked at diet quality based on Dutch dietary guidelines and diet quality was measured on a scale of zero to 14, with 14 the healthiest. The best diets contained lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, dairy, and fish, and limited sugary beverages, the researchers said. They found that the average diet score was seven. The participants also had MRI scans done to measure their brain size. The researchers collected information from the participants about other factors that could affect brain size, such as high blood pressure, physical activity, and smoking.

After adjusting the data to account for such factors, the researchers saw that a higher diet score was linked to larger brain volume. Those with the healthiest diets had brains that were about 2 milliliters larger than those who ate fewer healthy foods. The researchers believe that this small difference in brain size could translate to better thinking and memory skills.

However, the researchers noted that the study can’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship; it was only designed to look for an association between diet and brain size. In addition, they stressed that there wasn’t one healthy food that made a difference, but rather a healthy diet overall.

Abstract