JAMDA | 01-06-2017 |
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the association between long-term adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet with cognitive function and decline in older American women.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Setting: The Nurses’ Health Study, a cohort of registered nurses residing in 11 US states.
Participants: A total of 16,144 women from the Nurses’ Health Study, aged _70 years, who underwent cognitive testing a total of 4 times by telephone from 1995 to 2001 (baseline), with multiple dietary assessments between 1984 and the first cognitive examination. DASH adherence for each individual wasbased on scoring of intakes of 9 nutrient or food components.
Measurements: Long-term DASH adherence was calculated as the average DASH adherence score from up to 5 repeated measures of diet. Primary outcomes were cognitive function calculated as the average scores of the 4 repeated measures, as well as cognitive change of the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status score and composite scores of global cognition and verbal memory.
Results: Greater adherence to long-term DASH score was associated with better average cognitive function, irrespective of apolipoprotein E ε4 allele status [multivariable-adjusted differences in mean z-scores between extreme DASH quintiles ¼ 0.04 (95% confidence interval, CI 0.01e0.07), P trend ¼ .009 for global cognition; 0.04 (95% CI 0.01e0.07), P trend ¼ .002 for verbal memory and 0.16 (95% CI 0.03 e0.29), and P trend ¼ .03 for Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status, P interaction >0.24]. These differences were equivalent to being 1 year younger in age. Adherence to the DASH score was not associated with change in cognitive function over 6 years.
Conclusions: Our findings in the largest cohort on dietary patterns and cognitive function to date indicate that long-term adherence to the DASH diet is important to maintain cognitive function at older ages.
Auteurs: Agnes A.M. Berendsen MSc a, Jae H. Kang ScDb, Ondine van de Rest PhDa, Edith J.M. Feskens PhD a, Lisette C.P.G.M. de Groot PhD a, Francine Grodstein ScDb,c
Affiliations: aDivision of Human Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, bChanning Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, cDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Link to whole article
