Abstract
BackgroundLimited information is available concerning the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability during adolescence, especially in regards to the epidemiological studies in China. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in Chinese children aged 10–15 years.MethodsThe dietary information, cognitive ability and sociodemographic data of 2029 children were retrieved from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies. Dietary patterns were assessed by principal component analysis. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to determine the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in these children.ResultsThree dietary patterns were identified, namely, ‘High protein’, ‘High fat’ and ‘High salt-oil’. Following adjustment for gender, age, nationality, household registration, school type, parental education level, family learning environment, annual household income and family size, we found that an increase in ‘High protein’ pattern score was significantly associated with higher mathematics test scores (OR = 1.62, CI: 1.23 ~ 2.15; P = 0.001), but not with vocabulary test scores (OR = 1.21, CI: 0.93 ~ 1.58; P = 0.149). On the contrary, an increase in ‘High fat’ pattern score was significantly associated with lower scores of mathematics (OR = 0.76, CI: 0.59 ~ 0.98; P = 0.031) and vocabulary (OR = 0.77, CI: 0.61 ~ 0.97; P = 0.029) tests. However, there was no significant association between ‘High salt-oil’ pattern and the scores of mathematics (OR = 0.99, CI: 0.77 ~ 1.27; P = 0.915) and vocabulary (OR = 0.93, CI: 0.73 ~ 1.18; P = 0.544) tests.ConclusionThe findings of this study demonstrated that ‘High protein’ pattern was positively associated with cognitive ability in Chinese children, while ‘High fat’ pattern exhibited a negative association.
Highlights
Limited information is available concerning the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability during adolescence, especially in regards to the epidemiological studies in China
Several studies from the United States, Australia, Fenland and the United Kingdom examined the effects of healthy dietary consumption on cognitive function in both children and adolescents, and the results showed that there was a positive association between healthier foods and cognitive function
The results indicated that a 1-unit increase in ‘High protein’ dietary pattern scores was associated with a 1.28-fold (CI: 1.21 ~ 1.35) increase in children’s mathematics test scores or a 1.25-fold (CI: 1.18 ~ 1.32) increase in children’s vocabulary test scores
Summary
Limited information is available concerning the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability during adolescence, especially in regards to the epidemiological studies in China. This study aimed to analyze the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in Chinese children aged 10–15 years. The cognitive ability of children has always been a key focus of public health researchers. Adolescence is a key period of brain and cognitive development, mainly due to its various developmental stages regulated by some common and independent biological processes [2]. Wang et al BMC Public Health (2021) 21:2212 essential and changeable environmental factor that can affect brain development, cognition ability and academic performance. Children with malnutrition or insufficient nutrient intake tended to have learning restraints and developmental disabilities compared to those who had an adequate nutrient uptake [17, 18], and the malnourished children often exhibited lower academic performance in school than well-nourished children [19]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call