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The Mediterranean diet is not associated with neuroimaging or cognition in middle-aged adults: a cross-sectional analysis of the PREVENT dementia programme

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Oliver Shannon, Professor Emma Stevenson, Dr Graciela Muniz Terrera

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2024 The Authors. European Journal of Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Neurology.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.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Gregory S, Buller-Peralta I, Bridgeman K, Gongora VDLC, Dounavi M-E, Low A, Ntailianis G, O'Brien J, Parra MA, Ritchie CW, Ritchie K, Shannon OM, Stevenson EJ, Muniz-Terrera G

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: European Journal of Neurology

Year: 2024

Volume: 31

Issue: 8

Print publication date: 01/08/2024

Online publication date: 25/05/2024

Acceptance date: 02/05/2024

Date deposited: 11/06/2024

ISSN (print): 1351-5101

ISSN (electronic): 1468-1331

Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Inc

URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.16345

DOI: 10.1111/ene.16345

Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in PREVENT Main Baseline 700 V1 at https://www.alzhe imers data. org/ad-workbench, reference number https://doi.org/10.34688/ PREVE NTMAIN_BASEL INE_700V1.

PubMed id: 38794967


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Funding

Funder referenceFunder name
Alzheimer's Society 178, 264 and 329
Alzheimer's Assocation TriBEKa-17-519007
MR/T001852/1Medical Research Council (MRC)

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