There’s some promising evidence that suggests a heart-healthy Mediterranean-style diet could cut your risk of developing problems with memory and thinking.

The diet is balanced with an emphasis on fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish, with limited consumption of meat, sugar and saturated fat.

Try the MIND way of eating. This diet, developed to help brain function, combines the Mediterranean diet and the blood pressure-lowering DASH diet. It’s packed with vitamin E, which may protect against plaques in the brain; omega 3, which could improve brain cells’ ability to communicate; and vitamin B, to help prevent memory loss.

Base your meals on these to give your brain the nutrients it needs:

• Green leafy vegetables, such as spinach and kale
• Other veg, such as red peppers, squash, carrots and broccoli
• Nuts
• Berries
• Beans, lentils and soybeans
• Wholegrains
• Seafood
• Poultry
• Olive oil – in fact studies have suggested that the antioxidant found in olive oil could reduce plaque formation that is a characteristic of Alzheimer’s.