5 Ways the Mediterranean Diet Supports Your Brain

2. Improves memory and thinking skills

Those who lived a healthy lifestyle — defined as eating a Mediterranean diet, getting regular exercise and quality sleep and having an active social life — performed better on tests of memory, executive function, attention-processing speed and other aspects of cognition in a study that analyzed data from 1,726 participants ages 65 and older. The results were published in Lifestyle Medicine in 2021. The Mediterranean diet, itself, was associated with better executive function in research that analyzed data from 6,647 adults ages 55 to 75 published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience in 2021.

3. Protects against cognitive decline

Eating a Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline in a study that followed 840 people over the age of 65 for 12 years published in 2023 in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. Following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a 27 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, one specific cause of cognitive decline, in a systematic review and meta-analysis published in Aging Clinical and Experimental Research in 2024. The researchers examined 21 studies with 65,955 total participants age 61 and older.

4. Neutralizes stress

The Mediterranean diet was associated with less wear and tear on the body from chronic stress — known as allostatic load — in a study published in 2022 in Psychoneuroendocrinology that analyzed data from 201 adults age 60 and older. And researchers found a correlation between the Mediterranean diet, mindful eating (the practice of being fully present and paying attention during a meal), and greater psychological resilience — defined as the “ability to adapt and cope effectively with stress, adversity and life challenges” — in a study published in Applied Biosciences in 2024 that analyzed data from 288 people age 25 to 65.

5. Slows brain aging

In a study of 100 people age 65 to 75, those who had higher blood levels of 13 key nutrients found in the Mediterranean diet — including mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin — had more youthful brains, with an average “brain age” of 59.7. (Researchers determined participants’ brain ages by analyzing their MRI images, focusing on brain anatomy, functionality and connectivity.) They also scored higher on tests of intelligence, executive function and memory. The results were published in NPJ Aging in 2024.

And in the 2021 Neurology study mentioned earlier, the Mediterranean diet helped protect against shrinking of the hippocampus, a region of the brain involved in learning and memory. It’s normal for the hippocampus to begin shrinking with age, but a more rapid loss of volume has been linked to cognitive decline.

Ready to work Mediterranean-style meals into your life? Breakfast could be a zucchini frittata or date and pine nut oatmeal; lunch might be a wrap with couscous, chicken, veggies and fresh herbs; and dinner could be blackened salmon with vegetables or zucchini noodles with avocado pesto and shrimp.