This Diet May Help Build Cognitive Resilience As You Age, Study Shows
Key takeaways
- For example, research shows that white matter lesions accumulate, cortical volume shrinks, and the hippocampus (your brain's memory hub) slowly loses density.
- A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition1 found that the MIND diet may help the brain maintain cognitive function even when age-related damage is present.
- Researchers wanted to know whether diet quality could modify the relationship between brain pathology and cognitive performance.
Why this matters: practical guidance grounded in recent research or expert insight.
Author: Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDNMay 16, 2026Registered Dietitian Nutritionist By Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDNRegistered Dietitian Nutritionist Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master’s in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change from Tufts University. She lives in Newport Beach, California, and enjoys connecting people to the food they eat and how it influences health and wellbeing.Image by Renáta Török-Bognár / StocksyMay 16, 2026While cognitive aging is something we can slow, there are certain structural changes to the brain that are less in our control. For example, research shows that white matter lesions accumulate, cortical volume shrinks, and the hippocampus (your brain's memory hub) slowly loses density. For a long time, the assumption was that these changes would lead to cognitive decline. But emerging research suggests that's not always the case.
A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition1 found that the MIND diet may help the brain maintain cognitive function even when age-related damage is present. Here's what you need to know about building this cognitive resiliency.
Researchers wanted to know whether diet quality could modify the relationship between brain pathology and cognitive performance. To test this, they recruited 66 older adults (ages 60–82) who were at elevated risk for dementia based on family history or their own cognitive concerns. About 65% of participants identified as Black and 73% were female (populations that are often underrepresented in brain health research despite having a higher risk of dementia).