Whither the MIND Diet?

In Beating the Dementia Monster, we proclaimed the MIND diet to be the ultimate diet for brain health, and we blogged about it repeatedly.  However, we also said that the research jury was still out.  We went to press with the second edition of the book while covid-19 was hitting, and we repeated the existing claim that study results would be ready in April 2021.  I've been waiting eagerly ever since.

So it's now April 2021.  Where are the results?

I don't know if this was the original plan and I misunderstood what I read, but we now don't anticipate seeing results until June -- if then.  (I feel like a 5-year old on Christmas Eve, unable to get to sleep.  What's two months?)  Here is where the status of the research is tracked by the NIH,  You'll see that they mark April for "Estimated primary completion date" of the study, while June is the "Estimated study completion date."  

"Primary completion date" means "The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure."  Recall that most studies include both primary and secondary outcomes, primary being the outcome we're most interested in.  "Study completion date" means "The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit)."  So study completion date is about getting all of the data, but not necessarily having reduced it and interpreted it.

For this study, the primary outcomes relate to changes in cognition measured through neuropsychological testing.  The secondary outcomes relate to physiological changes in the brain observed through imaging.  The secondary outcomes are mainly total brain volume and hippocampal volume, but there are some other factors as well.

So will they report the results as soon as they've finished slicing and dicing the data?  Or will they keep it under wraps until some big conference that will give them a spotlight?  

Pretty much the biggest conference of the year is the Alzheimer's Association International Conference held each year in Amsterdam, and that will be in July.  Last year's conference was virtual due to covid, but they're planning a hybrid conference this year.  I attended last year and got a lot out of it.

A concern I have is whether covid disrupted the protocol and could bring the results into question.

When will we hear the actual results?  Will they be leaked ahead of the formal announcement?  We'll see.  I'm guessing the formal release will be at Amsterdam, but we'll know the results before hand.