(P13-027-25) Feasibility of a MIND Diet Protocol with Remote Meal Delivery: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial

Objectives: While the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) may reduce dementia risk in older adults, randomized controlled trials (RCT) assessing the effects of the MIND in middle age are limited. This pilot study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a remotely delivered MIND intervention and explored its effects on nutrition status, cardiometabolic risk, and cognitive function compared to a control.

Methods: Healthy adults (N = 48, 45-64 y) were enrolled in a 12-week, single-blind RCT. The intervention consisted of a daily meal containing key MIND foods (e.g., berries, greens) shipped to homes plus dietary education. The control group received isocaloric meals aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and education. Feasibility was assessed via retention and compliance, acceptability via questionnaire, and nutritional status via skin and macular carotenoids. Cardiometabolic risk was assessed using waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides, and HDL. Cognitive function was evaluated using a modified Eriksen flanker task. Outcomes were measured pre- and post-intervention. Mixed-effects models analyzed group and time effects with participant intercepts as random effects.

Results: Participants (N=39 [MIND=21, control=18], 36% male) aged 53.2 ± 4.9 y completed the study. The intervention showed high feasibility (87.5% retention and 100% with ≥80% compliance) and acceptability (100% found meals easy to prepare, 85.7% liked the diet and found it low effort). There was a time x group interaction effect for skin carotenoids (F=6.29, P=0.016) with only the MIND group increasing (µ_d=56.13, P < 0.001). There was a time x group interaction effect for flanker accuracy interference, an index of poorer ability to maintain cognitive control with varied difficulty levels (F=4.58, P=0.039) with non-significant decreases in the MIND (µ_d=-0.58, P=0.228) and increases in the control (µ_d=0.89, P=0.082). No group differences were observed for macular carotenoids, cardiometabolic risk, or flanker reaction time.

Conclusions: The MIND remote meal RCT was feasible and acceptable. Further, the MIND demonstrated benefits for nutritional status and cognitive control relative to the control.

Funding Sources: Personalized Nutrition Initiative, Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois