6 Foods for Better Memory After 60—and 2 Linked to Faster Decline

You’re making dinner when it hits you: Did you already salt the sauce?

Headlines scream “brain foods,” touting blueberries and other foods. But there’s no single food that promises a sharper memory. Food does affect the brain, but through dietary patterns held over years. For example, a USDA evidence review found a lower risk for cognitive decline and dementia associated with a diet that included more vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, fish, unsaturated oils, and fewer red and processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages.

Here are six foods that may be worth adding to your diet after 60. All are easy to find and likely to be things that you’d enjoy eating regularly, which is important since the best nutrition is sustainable. And here are two food groups where it might be worth considering how much you consume every day.

First, what does “better memory” actually mean?

One exception was a 3-year randomized controlled trial with 604 older adults, one group following the MIND diet and mild caloric restriction and a control group that followed the same caloric restriction but not the specific MIND diet. Both groups improved their cognitive function, with no statistically significant benefit for the MIND group, researchers found, publishing their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Keep in mind, though, that memory, cognitive function, and dementia risk, while related, are not identical. For example, performing well on cognitive tests doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, and being at decreased risk of dying of dementia doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be more likely to remember people’s names and phone numbers.

Most of the studies on food and brain function have been observational, meaning scientists studied people’s diets, compared them, and looked at outcomes. And it’s difficult to tease apart differences in dietary choices from confounding factors, such as education level, income, exercise, and access to health care.

That doesn’t mean that your dietary choices are meaningless, indeed, making wise and purposeful dietary choices are better supported by the evidence than are claims that diet can enhance memory.

1. Leafy greens: a good place to start

Spinach, kale, collards and romaine have some of the evidence most directly relevant to older adults. Some media outlets have said that eating them can make your brain “11 years younger.” This claim comes from an observational study that found that eating around one serving of leafy greens a day was associated with slower cognitive decline in 960 older people.

To be clear, this doesn’t mean that you’re making your brain 11 years younger. The 11 years thing comes from a statistical comparison between people’s rates of cognitive decline. Also, since participants weren’t assigned diets, we can’t say for sure whether eating the foods directly impacts cognition. For more information, read this summary of the study from the National Institute on Aging.

Put it on the plate add frozen spinach to soup, fold greens into an omelet or make a tiny salad to go along with dinner. If raw kale sounds like an onerous task, try a different green, you don’t have to like all of them, you just have to make it a habit to eat some of them on a daily basis.

2. Berries: particularly relevant evidence in older women

Berries, especially blueberries and strawberries, are often on top of healthy brains’ food lists, and there’s human research to back up the claim.

In one large analysis of cognitive changes in 16,010 Nurses’ Health Study participants, all aged 70 or older, greater consumption of blueberries and strawberries was associated with slower cognitive decline. The study, published in Annals of Neurology, also looked at flavonoids, which are compounds found in plants and not just berries, with similar results.

Caveat It’s not exactly like participants were told to eat berries, meaning we can’t conclude that berry consumption alone accounted for differences in cognition.

All this being said, that doesn’t mean you should go out and buy a bottle of berry powder in an attempt to mimic its effects. Nor does it mean you need to reach a certain quota each day. But, it is another reminder that berries are an important part of a well-balanced diet.

Make sure berries are part of your meal rotation. Keep them handy, fresh or frozen, toss them into a bowl of plain yogurt or oatmeal or thaw them to make an easy topping for toast, so they aren’t languishing and eventually rotting in the back of your refrigerator.

3. Fish: the evidence extends beyond one study

In a meta-analysis published in 2024, people who reported the highest intake of fish had lower rates of cognitive impairment or decline than people who consumed the lowest amounts of fish. While associations were found with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, the authors noted that more robust evidence is needed to support these associations.

Another study that followed adults 65 years of age and older who were part of the Chicago Health and Aging Project, a community-based cohort study, found that fish consumption was associated with a slower rate of cognitive decline.

Put it on the plate The research here is about eating fish as part of a broader diet, not about fish-oil capsules. If you don’t often cook it, start with something you enjoy eating, not necessarily something elaborate. Salmon goes well with potatoes and vegetables. Canned sardines on toast or canned salmon make easy sandwiches.

4. Nuts: promising, but don’t skip the fine print

“Linked with better cognitive performance” yes; “Proven to slow memory loss” no. In a study of 15,467 women, researchers studied habitual, long-term nut consumption. Women who ate more nuts had higher overall mean cognitive function, but nut intake wasn’t associated with the rate of cognitive decline over the follow-up period.

It’s an important distinction that the authors made. Nuts are an easy way to incorporate some of the principles of a Mediterranean or MIND diet into your own meals.

Chop walnuts and stir them into hot cereal. Sprinkle almonds over a fresh salad. Have a handful of nuts with whole fruits. Use nut butter if chewing is a challenge. And while it’s unclear whether they’re all equally beneficial to your brain, choose the nut(s) that make you go mmmm rather than ouch (allergy alert!) and taste best to you, not necessarily the most expensive. It’s a start.

5. Beans and lentils: especially useful as a replacement

It’s a subtle but important point to keep in mind as you read about dietary studies like this one published in Neurology in 2025 that found that replacing a serving of processed red meat per day with nuts and legumes was associated with 19% lower risk of dementia.

It’s a substitution analysis, which is a statistical analysis of foods eaten by study participants, not an intervention study, where people are asked to make specified dietary changes. So it’s not beans themselves that were associated with lower dementia risk, it was nuts and legumes, grouped together in the study, replacing processed meats.

More broadly, it’s useful to think about what foods might be replaced when evaluating whether beans, or other foods, are good for you.

Casually sprinkling a few lentils here and there is very different from using lentils to replace processed meats.

Put it on the plate Think about meals you’re already making, and ways to incorporate legumes, such as lentil soup for lunch, chickpeas in a sandwich filling, black beans in tacos. You don’t have to modify the recipe completely; start by replacing some of the meat.

6. Olive oil: encouraging findings, with a different outcome

More good news about olive oil. A study that followed more than 92,000 US adults for 28 years found a lower risk of dying from dementia among people who ate some olive oil every day compared to those who rarely or never had any. Those who consumed more than about half a tablespoon (7 grams) had a 28% lower risk. The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Caveat This study was observational, so it couldn’t prove that eating olive oil protects against dementia. And not all study participants started out over the age of 60, so we don’t know if starting then would bring a 28% lower risk. And this was about dying from dementia, not necessarily scoring higher on cognitive tests.

Put it on the plate Use olive oil as part of an overall dietary pattern, as opposed to taking it by the spoonful. Make it part of your diet by using it in salad dressings, drizzled over beans, and when cooking vegetables. Make it part of a diet that’s enjoyable to prepare and consume, not one more chore to get through each day.

Two food categories worth eating less often

However, scientific evidence doesn’t support sweeping lists of foods that will wreck your memory. These two groups of foods have relevant longitudinal research, and an occasional meal in either group is far from a reliable predictor of your future cognitive fate.

1. Processed red meat: bacon, hot dogs, sausage and similar products

The 2025 Neurology study included 133,771 participants. Those who ate 0.25 serving or more of processed red meat per day had a 13% higher risk of dementia compared to people who ate less than 0.10 serving per day.

It’s important to understand that’s a relative risk, not an absolute risk, meaning, this does not mean that if you eat processed meats, your own risk is 13 percentage points higher than it otherwise would’ve been. More processed red meat intake was also associated with worse performance on certain cognitive tests.

All that being said, correlation doesn’t equal causation. Also worth noting, eating processed meats every day doesn’t mean consuming them in one sitting. If you eat them at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, that’s three chances to shake things up.

Instead of searching for the “safe” number, try to keep things in perspective. Can you substitute deli meat with another ingredient some days? Try a chickpea sandwich, leftovers, eggs, whatever you like. Making those kinds of changes is simple.

2. A diet heavily dependent on ultra-processed foods

People who ate a diet in which about 20% or more of their calories came from ultra-processed food had a 28% increased rate of decline in overall cognitive function.

Researchers followed 10,775 adults in Brazil for a median of eight years. The research, published in JAMA Neurology, found an association between eating lots of UPFs and cognitive decline, but only in adults who were younger than 60 at baseline.

Importantly, the 28% number does not refer to a 28% increased risk of dementia. It’s the rate of cognitive decline in those who ate a lot of ultra-processed food compared with those who didn’t.

Rather than worry about UPF in general, see if there is one food in the UPF category that you eat regularly that you can tweak. Remember, ultra-processed is a very broad category, as the evidence that exists for ultra-processed food in general might not necessarily apply to all foods in the same way.

So, for instance, that might be swapping a packaged sweet for something whole, such as fruit and nuts, or swapping your go-to ready meal for a simple veggie and pulse-filled recipe. Ultimately, your overall dietary pattern is what’s most important, and there’s no need to fear packaged foods.

What about sugar, cheese and fried food?

You might be surprised to find that these are not part of it. Lots of articles on eating for your brain’s health will tell you that you should “limit” butter, cheese, pastries, fried food, sugary drinks, and so forth. Some of this is accurate. The MIND diet does suggest limiting several food groups.

But none of this means that any one of those foods has been shown to accelerate memory decline, and it’s ok to have those foods every now and then and still reap the rewards of a MIND diet.

Food is one part of taking care of your memory

If a person is having memory problems that interfere with their ability to function in their everyday life, for example, if they’re having trouble managing their finances, remembering to take medications, or remembering appointments, it’s time to call their doctor.

There are still manageable food-based ways to look after brain health. Choose a leafy green that you know you can incorporate into your diet. Choose a fruit you love. Find a bean or fish dish that you know you’ll make on repeat. Switch out some foods for healthier options here and there.

In addition to a healthy diet, the NIA also recommends getting physically active, controlling high blood pressure and other health conditions, treating vision and hearing problems, paying attention to medications, staying socially and mentally active.

Remember, tonight’s dinner doesn’t have to prevent every possible disease. Use evidence to make your meal just a little better, but be sure to look forward to your meal and enjoy eating.

Cory Jones

Cory Jones has spent 20 years in media and publishing and now leads the data and editorial operation behind The Greenest. He built and maintains the site’s Neighborhood Wellness Score — a proprietary dataset scoring food access, walkability, air quality, healthcare access, and health outcomes across 18,356 U.S. ZIP codes, drawing on CDC PLACES data, EPA air quality readings, and verified location intelligence. He is a huge fan of Rancho Gordo beans and tries to work out more than he actually works out.