What to Eat to Support Brain Health

The foods you choose to eat each day have a powerful influence on your cognitive function

Christine Richmond

Updated March 17, 2026

Healthy food for the brain arranged together to resemble a brain

David Malan/Getty Images

Here’s some food for thought: The meals, snacks and drinks you choose each day affect how well your brain works. Throughout your lifetime, your diet influences everything from the size of your brain to how quickly you can recall details. As a child, what you eat helps shape your brain development; later in life, it can speed up or slow down the changes that come with normal brain aging. That’s why Eat Right is one of Staying Sharp’s six pillars of brain health.

“Making wise choices about your diet is something you can do to promote better brain health and choosing healthier options more often can have long-term benefits,” wrote AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH) in its report “Brain Food.”

But what exactly does a healthy diet look like? You have options. If you like having a plan to follow, the Mediterranean Diet and the MIND Diet have been well-studied for their roles in supporting brain health and preventing chronic illnesses like heart disease. Both diets encourage eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, beans, nuts and fish while limiting red meat and sugar.

The very similar DASH diet, with its added focus on limiting salt intake to manage high blood pressure, is piling up new evidence of its association with both lower risk for cognitive decline and better cognitive function, especially when followed during mid-adulthood, defined as ages 45 to 54. The authors of a study reported in JAMA Neurology in 2026 wrote: “Key food groups associated with better cognitive function included higher vegetable and fish intake and lower red and processed meats intake.”

The recommendations below, from the GCBH, will help you get closer to this healthy way of eating.

1. Load up on vegetables and fruit, especially leafy greens and berries

Getting plenty of produce supports your brain in several ways. There’s evidence that the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other compounds in fruits and veggies can help fight inflammation and oxidative stress and improve blood flow in the brain. Produce also provides fiber that feeds your gut microbiome, the community of microorganisms in your GI tract that have an outsized influence on your brain function.

In a study that analyzed data from 10,236 adults ages 55 and older, those who ate the most fruits and vegetables — in particular, cruciferous veggies, red/yellow veggies and leafy greens — had better brain function and a slower rate of cognitive decline over time compared with those who ate the least. The results were published in The Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging in 2024. A diet high in fruits and vegetables may also lower your risk of anxiety, according to a study of 10,870 adults, with the strongest effects seen in those ages 40 to 65 published in the Journal of Affective Disorders in 2025.

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2. Choose healthy fats

“A diet that is higher in unsaturated fats and lower in saturated fats is linked to better cognition,” according to the GCBH. There are two types of unsaturated fats: monounsaturated fats, found in foods like olive oil, almonds and avocados; and polyunsaturated fats found in fatty fish (more about fish below), walnuts and tofu. Saturated fat is found in foods like red meat, butter and cheese.

3. Keep sugar and salt in check

In a study of 172,516 adults ages 37 to 73, published in the Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease in 2025, those who ate the most sugar were almost 30 percent more likely to develop dementia than those with the lowest sugar intake. And according to the GCBH, “reducing high levels of salt is likely to have a positive benefit on brain health through its effects on blood pressure.” This doesn’t mean you have to banish your salt shaker from the table, however; the GCBH notes that the majority of salt in Americans’ diets comes from processed foods and baked goods.

4. Limit red meat

Health experts have been sounding the alarm about red meat for years now. Research has shown that a diet high in red meat can increase your risk of many chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart disease. In 2015, the World Health Organization classified processed meats, like hot dogs and beef jerky, as “carcinogenic to humans” and unprocessed red meat, such as beef and pork, as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”

Replacing one serving a day of processed red meat with nuts and legumes slashed dementia risk by 19 percent in a study published in Neurology in 2025. The study also found that people who ate at least a serving a day of unprocessed red meat were more likely to report symptoms of cognitive decline than those who ate less than 1/2 serving a day. To reach their conclusions, the researchers analyzed up to 43 years of data from three groups totaling more than 195,000 people from middle age into older adulthood.

5. Eat fish at least once a week

Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel, anchovies and herring are all great sources of omega-3 fatty acids, a type of polyunsaturated fat. “There is an abundance of information on the link between omega-3 fatty acids and healthy brain aging,” according to the GCBH. The group recommends you eat fish (not fried) at least once a week. In a meta-analysis of 35 studies involving more than 849,000 total participants over age 50, those who ate the most fish had an 18 percent lower risk of cognitive impairment compared with those who ate the least, as reported in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research in 2024.

Ready to cook with brain-healthy foods? Start by browsing our collection of delicious, nourishing recipes. We even offer meal plans so you can follow a week of Mediterranean meals or a high-protein plan. And be sure to read up on Staying Sharp's other pillars of brain health: Be Social, Manage Stress, Restorative Sleep, Engage Your Brain and Ongoing Exercise.