scholarly journals Dietary Patterns and Cognition in US Older Adults

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 29-29
Author(s):  
Yian Gu ◽  
Jing Guo ◽  
Alanna Moshfegh

Abstract Objectives Community-based population cohort studies found that following healthy dietary patterns is protective against cognitive decline in older adults. The current study aims to confirm the associations in nationally representative samples. Methods The current cross-sectional study included 2864 participants (≥60 years) of National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2014 who completed both dietary and cognitive assessments. Self-reported dietary intake was collected by trained interviewers using the USDA's Automated Multiple-Pass Method in two nonconsecutive 24-hour dietary recalls. Mediterranean-type Diet (MeDi) and Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI15) scores were estimated from the mean intakes of the two diet recalls. Cognitive function was measured by the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease Word Learning sub-test (WL), Animal Fluency test (AF), and Digit Symbol Substitution test (DSST). Age, sex, race/ethnicity adjusted z-scores were calculated for three cognitive scores, which were then averaged to get a composite cognitive score. Linear regression models were applied to examine the associations of diet and cognition, adjusted for age, sex, education, race/ethnicity, caloric intake, survey cycles, and annual household income. Results MeDi and HEI2015 were associated with 0.028 (95% CI = 0.004–0.05; P = 0.023) and 0.004 (0.0002–0.007; P = 0.038) higher mean cognitive z-score, respectively. Compared to the lowest tertile of MeDi, the highest tertile of MeDi was associated with 0.141 (95% CI = 0.029–0.253, P = 0.015; p-trend = 0.016) higher mean cognitive z-score. Compared to the lowest tertile, the highest MeDi tertile was associated with 1.001 (0.161–1.840, 0.021; 0.021), 1.05 (0.227–1.875, 0.014; 0.015) and 3.02 (1.004–5.027, 0.005; 0.004) higher WL, AF, and DSST, respectively, and the highest HEI15 tertile was associated with 0.827 (0.154–1.499, 0.018; 0.018) higher AF. The effect size of the highest compared to the lowest tertile of dietary score was approximately equivalent to 3–4 less years of aging. Conclusions Following a healthy diet is associated with better cognitive performance in a nationally representative sample of older adults. Funding Sources The current study was supported by grants from National Institution on Aging.

Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cuilin Zhang ◽  
Jing Wu ◽  
Marion Ouidir ◽  
Stefanie Hinkle ◽  
Fasil Ayele

Background: Accumulating evidence support the intergenerational impacts of diet in pregnancy. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain unclear. Placental epigenetic mechanisms may be involved although data from human epidemiological studies are sparse. We aimed to investigate associations of dietary quality in pregnancy with epigenome-wide placental DNA methylation in a multiracial pregnancy cohort. Methods: DNA methylation was measured using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 Beadchip on placentas obtained at delivery from 301 pregnant women who participated in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Fetal Growth Studies-Singleton cohort. Dietary information during periconception and early first trimester was collected using food frequency questionnaires, and diet in the second and third trimester was collected using a 24-hour dietary recall during four study visits. Scores for adherence to three healthy dietary patterns, alternate Healthy Eating Index (aHEI), alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), were calculated. For associations of each dietary pattern score with methylation, we conducted analyses using robust linear regression models after the adjustment for age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, race/ethnicity, physical activity, total energy intakes, and population stratification. Genes annotating the top significant CpG sites (false discovery rate (FDR) adjusted P<0.05) were queried for enrichment of functional pathways using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis tool. Results: Adherence to aHEI was significantly associated with methylation of 8 CpG sites, with the most significant association manifested in cg16724319- MDH1B (P=1.9x10 -10 ). Adherence to aMED was related to methylation of 14 CpG sites, with the most significant association manifested in cg07835181- CLCN7 (P=1.7x10 -11 ). DASH was significantly related to 33 CpG sites, with the most significant association manifested in cg26292547- REV3L (P=4.4x10 -10 ). Further, genes annotating the significant CpG sites were enriched in pathways related to cardiovascular and nervous system development and function, cancer, organismal injury and abnormalities, and reproductive system diseases. Conclusion: Findings from the epigenome wide study suggest that overall dietary quality in pregnancy is associated with placental DNA methylation changes at different loci potentially related to cardiovascular, neurological, reproductive, and cancer phenotypes.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
James E. Galvin ◽  
Stephanie Chrisphonte ◽  
Lun-Ching Chang

Background: Socioeconomic status (SES), race, ethnicity, and medical comorbidities may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders (ADRD) health disparities. Objective: Analyze effects of social and medical determinants on cognition in 374 multicultural older adults participating in a community-based dementia screening program. Methods: We used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and AD8 as measures of cognition, and a 3-way race/ethnicity variable (White, African American, Hispanic) and SES (Hollingshead index) as predictors. Potential contributors to health disparities included: age, sex, education, total medical comorbidities, health self-ratings, and depression. We applied K-means cluster analyses to study medical and social dimension effects on cognitive outcomes. Results: African Americans and Hispanics had lower SES status and cognitive performance compared with similarly aged Whites. We defined three clusters based on age and SES. Cluster #1 and #3 differed by SES but not age, while cluster #2 was younger with midlevel. Cluster #1 experienced the worse health outcomes while cluster #3 had the best health outcomes. Within each cluster, White participants had higher SES and better health outcomes, African Americans had the worst physical performance, and Hispanics had the most depressive symptoms. In cross-cluster comparisons, higher SES led to better health outcomes for all participants. Conclusion: SES may contribute to disparities in access to healthcare services, while race and ethnicity may contribute to disparities in the quality and extent of services received. Our study highlights the need to critically address potential interactions between race, ethnicity, and SES which may better explain disparities in ADRD health outcomes.


Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunju Kim ◽  
Cheryl A Anderson ◽  
Emily A Hu ◽  
Zihe Zheng ◽  
Lawrence J Appel ◽  
...  

Introduction: In individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), healthy dietary patterns are inversely associated with CKD progression. Metabolomics, an approach which measures many small molecules in biofluids, can identify biomarkers of healthy dietary patterns and elucidate metabolic pathways underlying diet-disease associations. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that adherence to 4 healthy dietary patterns would be associated with a set of known metabolites in CKD patients. Methods: We examined associations between 634 plasma metabolites assessed using the Broad platform at year 1 and Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015, Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, and alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED), and their food components in 1,117 participants in the CRIC Study. Usual dietary intakes were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire at baseline and year 2. We conducted multivariable linear regression models to study associations between diet scores and individual plasma metabolites, adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, health behaviors, and clinical factors. Results: After Bonferroni correction, we identified a total of 362 diet-metabolite associations (HEI=78; AHEI=127; DASH=97; aMED=60), and 101 metabolites were associated with more than 1 dietary pattern. The most common metabolite categories were triacylglycerols and diacylglycerols. Most lipids were negatively associated with healthy dietary patterns, except for cholesterols esters and triacylglycerols with ≥7 double bonds. Triacylglycerols with high number of double bonds were positively associated with healthy fat intake (e.g., higher monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid, omega-3 fatty acid, fish) within HEI, AHEI, and aMED ( Table ). Conclusions: We identified many metabolites associated with healthy dietary patterns, indicative of food consumption. If replicated, they may be considered biomarkers of healthy dietary patterns in CKD patients.


Nutrients ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoneta Granic ◽  
Avan Sayer ◽  
Sian Robinson

In recent decades, the significance of diet and dietary patterns (DPs) for skeletal muscle health has been gaining attention in ageing and nutritional research. Sarcopenia, a muscle disease characterised by low muscle strength, mass, and function is associated with an increased risk of functional decline, frailty, hospitalization, and death. The prevalence of sarcopenia increases with age and leads to high personal, social, and economic costs. Finding adequate nutritional measures to maintain muscle health, preserve function, and independence for the growing population of older adults would have important scientific and societal implications. Two main approaches have been employed to study the role of diet/DPs as a modifiable lifestyle factor in sarcopenia. An a priori or hypothesis-driven approach examines the adherence to pre-defined dietary indices such as the Mediterranean diet (MED) and Healthy Eating Index (HEI)—measures of diet quality—in relation to muscle health outcomes. A posteriori or data-driven approaches have used statistical tools—dimension reduction methods or clustering—to study DP-muscle health relationships. Both approaches recognise the importance of the whole diet and potential cumulative, synergistic, and antagonistic effects of foods and nutrients on ageing muscle. In this review, we have aimed to (i) summarise nutritional epidemiology evidence from four recent systematic reviews with updates from new primary studies about the role of DPs in muscle health, sarcopenia, and its components; (ii) hypothesise about the potential mechanisms of ‘myoprotective’ diets, with the MED as an example, and (iii) discuss the challenges facing nutritional epidemiology to produce the higher level evidence needed to understand the relationships between whole diets and healthy muscle ageing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 79 (OCE2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre O'Connor ◽  
Siobhan Scarlett ◽  
Rose Anne Kenny

AbstractIn the field of nutritional epidemiology, principal component analysis (PCA) has been used to derive dietary patterns, but this has never been conducted in a large, nationally representative sample of older adults in Ireland. The aim was to identify dietary patterns amongst older adults in Ireland derived through PCA and to examine cross-sectional associations with common comorbidities of ageing.PCA was performed using data from Wave 3 of TILDA (2014), a nationally representative cohort of community-dwelling adults aged ≥ 54 (n = 4,395). We derived major dietary patterns from a PCA of reported intake from a Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). Objective measures for Body Mass Index (BMI), diabetes (HbA1c), bone density(heel bone ultrasound), blood pressure and total cholesterol were collected during a health assessment. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was also performed during health assessment with trained interviewers, as a measure of global cognitive function.Statistical analyses were conducted using multivariate logistic regression, adjusting for age, sex, marital status, income, educational attainment, alcohol consumption, smoking and physical activity.With the use of PCA, five dietary patterns were identified in the sample - Pattern 1 (fresh fruit, vegetable, fresh fish and dairy), Pattern 2 (confectionary, fatty and processed foods), Pattern 3 (meats, processed meats and salty foods), Pattern 4 (carbohydrates and processed foods) and Pattern 5 (savoury snacks, spreads and processed foods). Those characterized by Pattern 4 were more likely to be overweight (adjusted RRR 0.12, 95% CI 0.05–0.20; p = 0.001), obesity (adjusted RRR 0.18, 95% CI 0.10–0.27; p = 0.001) and have diabetes (adjusted RRR 0.10, 95% CI 0.01–0.19; p = 0.024) after adjusting for known covariates.Our results suggest that in the older adult population of Ireland, a dietary pattern typified by consumption of refined grains and processed carbohydrates is associated with higher prevalence of overweight, obesity and diabetes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1074-1074
Author(s):  
Dana Olstad ◽  
Sara Nejatinamini ◽  
Charlie Victorino ◽  
Sharon Kirkpatrick ◽  
Leia Minaker ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Diet quality is a key determinant of chronic disease and shares a similar socioeconomic patterning. Inequities in diet quality are stable or widening in the US, however these trends have not been examined in other nations. Moreover, prior US studies only examined differences in diet quality between the most and least disadvantaged groups in absolute terms. Quantifying trends in relative terms and along the full socioeconomic gradient according to multiple indicators of socioeconomic position (SEP) can provide a more comprehensive perspective to inform optimal points of intervention. The purpose of this study was to quantify nationally representative trends in absolute and relative gaps and gradients in diet quality between 2004 and 2015 according to three indicators of SEP among adults living in Canada. Methods Adults (≥18 years) who participated in the nationally representative, cross-sectional Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition in 2004 (n = 20,880) or 2015 (n = 13,970) were included. SEP was classified based on annual gross household income (quintiles), education (5 categories) and neighborhood deprivation (quintiles). Dietary intake data from interviewer-administered 24-hour recalls were used to derive Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores. Dietary inequities were quantified using four indices: absolute gaps, relative gaps, absolute gradients (slope index of inequality) and relative gradients (relative index of inequality). Sex-stratified multivariable linear regression models examined trends in HEI-2015 scores between 2004 and 2015. Results Mean HEI-2015 scores improved significantly from 55.3 in 2004 to 59.0 in 2015 (maximum 100 points); however these trends were not consistently equitable. While inequities in HEI-2015 scores were stable in females, the absolute gap and gradient in HEI-2015 scores according to household income increased in males, as did the absolute gradient according to education. Conclusions Absolute and relative gaps and gradients in diet quality remained stable or widened between 2004 and 2015 in Canada. Novel policies are needed to tackle these avoidable inequities. Providing universal access to resources with a scale and intensity proportionate to need (i.e., proportionate universalism) may reduce inequities in diet quality and thus, chronic disease risk. Funding Sources Not applicable.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 1665-1678
Author(s):  
Cuiling Wang ◽  
Mindy J. Katz ◽  
Katherine H. Chang ◽  
Jiyue Qin ◽  
Richard B. Lipton ◽  
...  

Background: The Uniform Data Set, Version 3 Neuropsychological Battery (UDSNB3.0), from the database of the University of Washington’s National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), is widely used to characterize cognitive performance in clinical and research settings; however, norms for underrepresented community-based samples are scarce. Objective: We compared UDSNB 3.0 test scores between the Einstein Aging Study (EAS), composed of racially/ethnically diverse, community-dwelling older adults aged≥70 and the NACC, and report normative data from the EAS. Methods: Analyses included 225 cognitively normal EAS participants and comparable data from 5,031 NACC database participants. Linear regression models compared performance between the samples, adjusting for demographics (sex, age, education, race/ethnicity), depressive symptoms, and whether English was the first language. Linear regression models to examine demographic factors including age, sex, education and race/ethnicity as predictors for the neuropsychological tests were applied in EAS and NACC separately and were used to create a demographically adjusted z-score calculator. Results: Cognitive performance across all domains was worse in the EAS than in the NACC, adjusting for age, sex, education, race/ethnicity, and depression, and the differences remained in visuo-construction, visuospatial memory, confrontation naming, visual attention/processing speed, and executive functioning after further adjusting for whether English was the first language. In both samples, non-Hispanic Whites outperformed non-Hispanic Blacks and more education was associated with better cognitive performance. Conclusion: Differences observed in demographic, clinical, and cognitive characteristics between the community-based EAS sample and the nationwide NACC sample suggest that separate normative data that more accurately reflect non-clinic, community-based populations should be established.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 535-535
Author(s):  
Hyunju Kim ◽  
Emily Hu ◽  
Bing Yu ◽  
Lyn Steffen ◽  
Sara Seidelmann ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives Healthy dietary patterns are recommended for health promotion. Metabolomics can be used to identify objective biomarkers of healthy dietary patterns, which has the potential to improve dietary assessment. We used metabolomics to identify serum metabolites associated with healthy dietary patterns and the components within these dietary patterns in middle-aged US adults. Methods We evaluated known metabolites associated with 4 dietary patterns [Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015, Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)-2010, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, Mediterranean diet (aMED)] and their components using untargeted metabolomics in two subsamples (N1 = 1864; N2 = 2091) of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study. Dietary intakes were assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. We used multivariable linear regression models to examine associations between dietary patterns and individual serum metabolites in each sample, adjusting for sociodemographic factors, health behaviors, and clinical factors. Results 21 out of 373 metabolites (HEI = 10; AHEI = 9; DASH = 15; aMED = 2) in sample 1 and 57 out of 758 metabolites (HEI = 32; AHEI = 22; DASH = 44; aMED = 22) in sample 2 were significantly associated with healthy dietary patterns after Bonferroni correction. More than half of the significant metabolites (n1 = 10; n2 = 35) were associated with more than one dietary pattern. The DASH diet had the highest number of unique metabolites (n1 = 7; n2 = 17), a majority of which were amino acids. Other diets had similar number of unique metabolites (range: 0–3), which were mostly lipids. Some of the unique metabolites were positively associated with components of every diet. For example, N-methylproline was associated with fruit and dairy intake in the DASH diet; docosahexaenoate (22:6n3) was associated with omega-3 fatty acid intake in AHEI, and 1-docosahexaenoylglycerophosphoethanolamine was associated with plant protein and saturated fat intake in HEI. Conclusions An untargeted metabolomics approach identified many metabolites associated with healthy dietary patterns. A considerable overlap of metabolites associated with HEI, AHEI, DASH, and aMED reflects the similar food components within healthy diets. Funding Sources NIDDK, NHLBI.


SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A215-A215
Author(s):  
Yuqi Shen ◽  
Darlynn Rojo-Wissar ◽  
Katherine Duggan ◽  
Brant Hasler ◽  
Adam Spira

Abstract Introduction Greater neuroticism and lower conscientiousness are linked to poorer nighttime sleep among older adults, but little is known about the association between personality and daytime sleep. Napping increases in older adulthood, and napping has been linked to health outcomes, including cognitive impairment. Thus, it is important to extend personality and sleep research to investigate napping behavior. We examined the association between personality and napping in a nationally representative cohort of older adults. Methods We studied 742 adults aged ≥65 years from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) who completed the sleep and personality modules in NHATS rounds 3 or 4 (2013–2014). Personality dimensions (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) were assessed by the Midlife Development Inventory Personality Scales. Participants reported nap frequency over the past month (most days or everyday [nappers-frequent]; some days [nappers-infrequent]; rarely/never [non-nappers]); napping intention (intentional/unintentional); and average nap duration (coded as ≤40 minutes [short]; and &gt;40 minutes [long], consistent with previous studies). Personality dimensions were included together in all models. Model 1 adjusted for age, sex, education, and BMI, and Model 2 further adjusted for anxiety and depression, comorbidities, sleep medications, and nighttime sleep duration. Only nappers were included in models with nap frequency, intention, or duration as outcomes (n=387). Results There were no personality differences between nappers and non-nappers. Among nappers, however, higher neuroticism was associated with lower odds of frequent naps (OR=0.73, 95% CI: 0.55,0.97), and higher agreeableness was associated with greater odds of unintentional napping (OR=1.95, 95% CI:1.12, 3.41) and lower odds of long nap duration (OR=0.54, 95% CI:0.33, 0.90) in Model 1. Associations remained in Model 2. Higher neuroticism was also associated with greater odds of long nap duration in Model 1 (OR=1.40, 95% CI:1.03, 1.91), but not after further adjustment in Model 2. Conclusion This is, to our knowledge, the first study examining the association between personality and daytime napping behaviors among a large sample of older adults, extending the literature on personality and nighttime sleep in this population. Because napping behaviors are associated with health outcomes, personality may be an important factor to consider in interventions addressing napping. Support (if any) NIH grant 5T32MH014592-39


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maura E. Walker ◽  
Rebecca J. Song ◽  
Xiang Xu ◽  
Robert E. Gerszten ◽  
Debby Ngo ◽  
...  

Data on proteomic and metabolomic signatures of healthy dietary patterns are limited. We evaluated the cross-sectional association of serum proteomic and metabolomic markers with three dietary patterns: the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet; and a Mediterranean-style (MDS) diet. We examined participants from the Framingham Offspring Study (mean age; 55 years; 52% women) who had complete proteomic (n = 1713) and metabolomic (n = 2284) data; using food frequency questionnaires to derive dietary pattern indices. Proteins and metabolites were quantified using the SomaScan platform and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry; respectively. We used multivariable-adjusted linear regression models to relate each dietary pattern index (independent variables) to each proteomic and metabolomic marker (dependent variables). Of the 1373 proteins; 103 were associated with at least one dietary pattern (48 with AHEI; 83 with DASH; and 8 with MDS; all false discovery rate [FDR] ≤ 0.05). We identified unique associations between dietary patterns and proteins (17 with AHEI; 52 with DASH; and 3 with MDS; all FDR ≤ 0.05). Significant proteins enriched biological pathways involved in cellular metabolism/proliferation and immune response/inflammation. Of the 216 metabolites; 65 were associated with at least one dietary pattern (38 with AHEI; 43 with DASH; and 50 with MDS; all FDR ≤ 0.05). All three dietary patterns were associated with a common signature of 24 metabolites (63% lipids). Proteins and metabolites associated with dietary patterns may help characterize intermediate phenotypes that provide insights into the molecular mechanisms mediating diet-related disease. Our findings warrant replication in independent populations


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