How a Mediterranean diet might protect the brain's white matter

• The Mediterranean diet is widely known for its heart health benefits, but new research suggests its impact on brain health extends beyond cardiovascular advantages.
• Adhering closely to this diet appeared to improve brain health, particularly by preserving white matter integrity, among Hispanic/Latino adults.
• While further studies are needed, these brain-boosting effects may partly stem from reduced inflammation, thanks to the diet’s rich antioxidants and healthy fats.

A preliminary study suggests that closely following a Mediterranean diet may enhance brain health among Hispanic/Latino adults.

The study’s abstract will be presented in February at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2025 in Los Angeles, CA.

The Mediterranean diet prioritizes wholesome, nutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, and olive oil, and moderate amounts of dairy, eggs, fish, and poultry.

Researchers propose that this diet may support brain health beyond its ability to help manage traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, or lack of physical activity.

Specifically, a Mediterranean diet may directly enhance the integrity of the brain’s white matter—which supports efficient communication between brain regions. 

While more research is needed, the findings suggest the diet might help protect cognitive function, partly independent of cardiovascular health.

Researchers analyzed data from the Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SOL-INCA-MRI).

This analysis included 2,774 participants with an average age of 64 at the time of their MRI. Women made up 56% of the group.

They wanted to find out if closely following the Mediterranean diet could improve brain health in Hispanic/Latino adults in the United States, specifically looking at white matter.

White matter is tissue in the brain that helps different regions communicate with each other, playing a key role in memory and learning. It declines naturally with age, but this process can be slowed through healthy diet and lifestyle choices.

The study also examined whether these improvements in brain health are influenced by cardiovascular health, which was assessed using the Life’s Simple 7 score.

The SOL-INCA-MRI study used 24-hour dietary recalls to calculate a Mediterranean diet score (0-9), estimating how closely a person’s usual diet follows Mediterranean recommendations.

Brain scans were taken to study white matter health, using advanced imaging techniques to measure abnormalities and structural integrity.

Researchers used a statistical analysis to explore how MRI results are linked to Mediterranean diet scores, accounting for factors like age, sex, and social demographics.

In their final adjusted analysis, researchers observed that higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet was linked to better brain health in Hispanic/Latino adults, particularly in preserving white matter integrity.

More closely following a Mediterranean diet was associated with:

• lower white matter hyperintensity volume, indicating less damage to the white matter in the brain
• increased fractional anisotropy, indicating well-organized and healthy white matter connections.

These positive effects were only partially explained by improved cardiovascular health markers, indicating that the diet may directly benefit brain health through other mechanisms.

“We have observed that cardiovascular health directly impacts brain structures; the effect of the Mediterranean diet on communication between regions of the brain remains somewhat independent of cardiovascular health,” the lead author of the study Gabriela Trifan, MD, assistant professor of neurology at the University of Illinois in Chicago, said in a press release.

When examining the individual components of the Mediterranean diet, researchers found that consuming more than the median intake of whole grains and fish was specifically associated with improved white matter integrity.