The Mediterranean diet is not associated with neuroimaging or cognition in middle‐aged adults: : a cross‐sectional analysis of the PREVENT dementia programme
Abstract
Background and purpose The Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) has been associated with reduced dementia incidence in several studies. It is important to understand if diet is associated with brain health in midlife, when Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are known to begin. Methods This study used data from the PREVENT dementia programme. Three MedDiet scores were created (the Pyramid, Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener [MEDAS] and MEDAS continuous) from a self‐reported food frequency questionnaire. Primary outcomes were hippocampal volume and cube‐transformed white matter hyperintensity volume. Secondary outcomes included cornu ammonis 1 and subiculum hippocampal subfield volumes, cortical thickness and measures of cognition. Sex‐stratified analyses were run to explore differential associations between diet and brain health by sex. An exploratory path analysis was conducted to study if any associations between diet and brain health were mediated by cardiovascular risk factors for dementia. Results In all, 504 participants were included in this analysis, with a mean Pyramid score of 8.10 (SD 1.56). There were no significant associations between any MedDiet scoring method and any of the primary or secondary outcomes. There were no differences by sex in any analyses and no significant mediation between the Pyramid score and global cognition by cardiovascular risk factors. Conclusions Overall, this study did not find evidence for an association between the MedDiet and either neuroimaging or cognition in a midlife population study. Future work should investigate associations between the MedDiet and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias biomarkers as well as functional neuroimaging in a midlife population.
Citation
Gregory , S , Buller‐Peralta , I , Bridgeman , K , Góngora , V D L C , Dounavi , ME , Low , A , Ntailianis , G , O'Brien , J , Parra , M A , Ritchie , C W , Ritchie , K , Shannon , O M , Stevenson , E J & Muniz‐Terrera , G 2024 , ' The Mediterranean diet is not associated with neuroimaging or cognition in middle‐aged adults: : a cross‐sectional analysis of the PREVENT dementia programme ' , European Journal of Neurology , vol. 31 , no. 8 , e13645 . https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.16345
Publication
European Journal of Neurology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1351-5101Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: The PREVENT dementia programme is funded by the Alzheimer's Society (grant numbers 178, 264 and 329), Alzheimer's Association (grant number TriBEKa-17-519,007) and philanthropic donations. The analytical work was funded by the MRC UK Nutrition Research Partnership (NRP) Collaboration Award (MR/T001852/1). Professor Muniz-Terrera acknowledges the support of the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation through funding for the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation Ralph S. Licklider, D.O., Research Endowment in the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine.Collections
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