Fresh-caught salmon is one of the healthier foods you can eat. These were caught on the Kenai Peninsula.
If you're looking for ways to improve your brain health, it's important to pay attention to your diet. But how do you know which diet is best? "The MIND diet is one that I focus on because it has been shown in research studies to lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Sandra Darling, a preventive medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
The MIND diet emphasizes plant-based foods like berries, leafy greens, whole grains, beans and nuts. The diet also favors fish and poultry over red meat. Dr. Darling said these foods provide key nutrients that can help reduce inflammation and protect brain cells. The MIND diet focuses on limiting foods high in saturated fat and added sugar. For this reason, Dr. Darling recommends a lot more home cooking when you can. "Prepare more meals at home using those whole and minimally processed foods that give our brain the nutrients it needs. That way, we're eating less of the ultra-processed foods and reducing those harmful components from the diet, like excess sodium, saturated fat, unhealthy oils and sugar," said Dr. Darling.
What makes a diet healthful?
According to a new study, nutritional quality matters more than processing level when it comes to long-term health. The study included 200,000 people and found that the overall quality of a person's diet was strongly associated with their risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and death. However, these associations did not appear to substantially differ based on food processing levels.
"While many ultra-processed foods tend to be of poor nutritional quality and should generally be limited or avoided, processing itself is not inherently harmful," said Xiaowen Wang, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public health in Boston. Based on the study results, she said individuals should "focus on what you're eating overall, not just whether it's processed. A healthy plant-based diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and healthy plant oils is beneficial, even if it includes some processed foods."
The nutritional quality of a person's diet and the amount of ultra-processed foods they consume are often intertwined. Many ultra-processed foods are high in added sugars, sodium and refined carbohydrates, so eating a lot of these foods is associated with poor dietary quality. However, ultra-processed foods like fortified breakfast cereals, whole grain products, canned beans, or plant-based dairy can still provide important nutrients, fiber, antioxidants and other beneficial compounds, contributing to a healthy diet.
For the study, researchers separated overall diet quality from the level of food processing. Using data from three studies that collectively followed over 200,000 U.S. adults from the 1980s through the 2020s, they used a framework known as the plant-based diet index. This allowed them to assess the degree to which each participant emphasized plant versus animal food products in their diet, the overall quality or healthfulness of their diet, and their consumption of plant-based foods.
After assessing each participant's overall diet, the researchers categorized the processing level of the foods they consumed. The first category was healthy/ultra-processed (whole grain breakfast cereal with fortified plant-based milk, plant-based yogurt, whole-grain bread, and canned fruit). The second category was healthy/minimally processed (oatmeal with fresh fruit and nuts, quinoa and vegetable salad with olive oil, and homemade lentil soup). The third category was unhealthy/ultra-processed (fast food
meals, French fries, soda, packaged desserts, and refined snacks) and the fourth was unhealthy/minimally processed (white rice, fruit juice, potatoes, and homemade desserts made with refined flour and sugar).
About half of the study participants eventually died or developed heart disease or type 2 diabetes. According to the results, the risk of these outcomes varied significantly depending on overall diet quality. Healthy diets were associated with lower risk, while unhealthy diets were associated with higher risk. Within each category, however, the risks were almost identical regardless of whether the diet was ultra-processed or minimally processed.
The results call into question the use of processing level as a key indicator of healthy eating. Healthy foods can be classified as ultra-processed.
"Advising people to universally avoid ultra-processed foods can lead to lower diet quality since healthy ultra-processed foods are beneficial and unhealthy minimally processed foods are detrimental," Wang said. "People should prioritize the quality of foods rather than focusing solely on the level of processing. Aim for more nutrient-dense, high-quality foods to help lower your risk of chronic diseases."
She suggests that dietary guidelines continue to promote established high-quality diets, like the Mediterranean diet or healthy plant-based diets, rather than focusing on processing level. The Mediterranean diet supports brain health by slowing cognitive decline, reducing dementia and Alzheimer's risk, and improving memory. The key components of the Mediterranean diet are eating antioxidant-rich plant foods, healthy fats like olive oil, and omega-3 fatty acids from fish.
A diet based on Alaska foods
Nutrient-dense foods are an important part the diet of a lot of Alaskans for good reason. Salmon, cod, herring, and shellfish are very high in protein, vitamin B12, and anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats. For Alaska Native who have hunting rights to marine mammals, seal, whale blubber (muktuk), and sea lion can be included. Land mammals (moose, caribou), wild berries, and sea greens can combine to provide a diet that is naturally low in sugar, high in lean protein, rich in antioxidants, and heart-healthy.
John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute. He can be reached at
John Schieszer is an award-winning national journalist and radio and podcast broadcaster of The Medical Minute.
