It is hard to believe that 2016 will mark 110 years since doctors first discovered Alzheimer’s disease and the devastating effects on the ability to think, remember and reason. Estimates vary, but experts suggest that more than 5 million Americans may have Alzheimer’s.

A newly published study points to how eating strawberries and blueberries may be part of a solution. The MIND diet, a hybrid between the Mediterranean Diet and DASH diet, includes berries and was found to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s by 53% for strict followers and by about 35% for even moderate followers. The diet, developed by Rush University Medical Center, focused on 15 dietary factors including 10 “brain-healthy food groups.” Berries are the only fruit to make the cut for the MIND diet based on past studies of their impact on protecting the brain.

How to get started? The California Strawberry Commission suggests eating eight strawberries a day which amounts to about one cup a day and a total of only 45 calories. Strawberries help protect your brain as well as offer more Vitamin C per serving than oranges and valuable nutrients like folate, potassium and fiber.

According to researchers, the longer a person follows the MIND diet, the less the risk that person will have of developing Alzheimer’s. “One of the more exciting things about this is that people who adhered even moderately to the MIND diet had a reduction in their risk for Alzheimer’s” said lead developer Martha Clare Morris, PhD, Rush University Medical Center.

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. For more information: https://www.rush.edu/news/diet-may-help-prevent-alzheimers

Sources: Rush University Medical Center and National Institute on Aging