MIND Pattern Nutritional Intervention Modulates Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Gut Microbiota in Alzheimer's Disease: An Observational Case-Control Study.

MIND pattern nutritional counseling improved Mediterranean diet adherence in the Alzheimer's disease group, with significant increases in vegetable consumption and reductions in butter use.

• Study design: observational case-control study with 60 participants (ALZ, n=30; cognitively healthy controls, n=30) assessed at baseline (T0) and follow-up (T1).
• In the ALZ group, adherence to vegetables ≥2/day improved (p < 0.01) and butter adoption ≤1/day decreased (p = 0.02).
• The ALZ group showed a shift from low to moderate/high Mediterranean diet adherence categories after the intervention.
• In controls, baseline Mediterranean diet adherence was already high, and overall MEDAS category changes were not statistically significant (p = 0.39), with low adherence declining from 13.8% to 3.6% and high adherence increasing from 37.9% to 50.0%.

Alpha diversity of gut microbiota increased significantly in the Alzheimer's disease group following the MIND intervention.

• Alpha diversity increased significantly in the ALZ group between T0 and T1.
• Bray-Curtis PCoA analysis separated T0 from T1 samples in the ALZ group, indicating compositional remodeling of the gut microbiota.
• sPLS-DA showed partial separation between timepoints, with the first two components explaining approximately 9% of variance.
• Gut microbiota profiling was performed using 16S rRNA sequencing of stool samples collected at T0 and T1.

Species-level gut microbiota analysis in the Alzheimer's disease group showed increases in SCFA-linked taxa and reductions in dysbiosis/mucin-degrading taxa after MIND intervention.

• SCFA-linked taxa that increased included Anaerobutyricum hallii, Blautia luti, and Eubacterium coprostanoligenes.
• Dysbiosis- and mucin-degrading taxa that decreased included Mediterraneibacter torques, Mediterraneibacter gnavus, and Agathobacter rectalis.
• Between-group delta (T1 - T0) comparisons at the genus level indicated larger positive shifts in ALZ for Anaerobutyricum, Oscillibacter, Faecalicatena, Romboutsia, Mediterraneibacter, and Blautia.
• More negative delta values in the ALZ group compared to controls were observed for Gemmiger, Subdoligranulum, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, and Collinsella.

Evidence on non-restrictive MIND pattern interventions in Alzheimer's disease was identified as limited prior to this study.

• The study was motivated by a gap in the literature regarding non-restrictive dietary interventions using the MIND pattern specifically in Alzheimer's disease populations.
• The MIND pattern combines elements of the Mediterranean and DASH diets and was assessed here using the MEDAS questionnaire.
• The study collected anthropometric and cognitive/functional measures in addition to dietary adherence and gut microbiota data at both timepoints.

The structured MIND nutritional intervention was feasible in participants with Alzheimer's disease in an observational setting.

• All 60 participants (30 ALZ, 30 controls) completed both baseline (T0) and follow-up (T1) assessments after structured MIND counseling.
• The intervention was described as 'non-restrictive,' distinguishing it from calorie- or macronutrient-restricted dietary approaches.
• The authors concluded that 'larger randomized mechanistic studies are warranted' based on the feasibility and observed signals.