"Doctors have been saying for years that what you eat can affect the health of your heart. Now theres growing evidence that the same is true for your brain. A new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago shows a diet plan they developed  appropriately called the MIND diet  may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimers disease https by as much as  percent. Even those who didnt stick to the diet perfectly but followed it moderately well reduced their risk of Alzheimers by about a third.  Diet appears to be just one of many factors that play into who gets the disease said nutritional epidemiologist Martha Clare Morris PhD the lead author of the MIND diet study. Genetics and other factors like smoking exercise and education also play a role. But the MIND diet helped slow the rate of cognitive decline and protect against Alzheimers https regardless of other risk factors. The study published in the journal Alzheimers  Dementia looked at more than  people between the ages of  and  who filled out food questionnaires and underwent repeated neurological testing. It found participants whose diets most closely followed the MIND recommendations had a level of cognitive function the equivalent of a person . years younger. The MIND diet breaks its recommendations down into  brain healthy food groups a person should eat and five unhealthy food groups to avoid. It combines many elements of two other popular nutrition plans which have been proven to benefit heart health the Mediterranean diet https and the DASH https Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet. MIND stands for MediterraneanDASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. But the MIND diet also differs from those plans in a few significant ways and proved more effective than either of them at reducing the risk of Alzheimers. Click through to see which foods to eat  and which ones to avoid  for optimal brain health. https"