Association between Intake of Energy and Macronutrients and Memory Impairment Severity in US Older Adults, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014.

Qinran Liu,Lin Yang,Lee Smith,Nicola Veronese,Liang Hu,Jianjun Guo,Chao Cao

doi:10.3390/nu12113559

Abstract

Without a cure, dementia affects about 50 million people worldwide. Understanding the effects of dietary habits, a key lifestyle behavior, on memory impairment is critical to inform early behavioral modification to delay further memory loss and progression to dementia. We examined the associations of total energy intake and energy intake from macronutrients with memory impairment among older US adults using data from the nationally representative National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey study 2011–2014. A total of 3623 participants aged ≥60 years were analyzed. Comparing to those with low total energy intake, individuals with high intake were more likely to have severe memory impairment (OR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.15 to 2.02; ptrend = 0.005). Specifically, higher energy intake from carbohydrate (OR: 1.59, 95% CI: 1.12 to 2.26) and sugar (OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.11 to 2.16) were both significantly associated with the presence of memory impairment. Additionally, higher energy intake from fat, carbohydrate and sugar were significantly associated with more server memory impairment (fat: ptrend = 0.04; carbohydrate: ptrend = 0.03; sugar: ptrend = 0.02). High energy intake, either total or from carbohydrates, fat or sugar, is associated with memory impairment severity in the older US population. No such association was found in energy intake from protein.

Highlights

Dementia is a syndrome characterized as deterioration in cognitive function, memory loss, and problems controlling emotions [1]
Comprehensive studies are needed to address the effects of total caloric intake and macronutrient intake, on the presence and severity of memory impairment at the population level, as well as within population subgroups defined by several sociodemographic and behavioral factors. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined the associations of total energy intake and energy intake from carbohydrates, protein, and fat with memory impairment among older US adults using a nationally representative sample
Female participants (24.6%) had higher prevalence of memory impairment compared to males

Summary

Introduction

Dementia is a syndrome characterized as deterioration in cognitive function, memory loss, and problems controlling emotions [1]. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia [4], affecting an estimate of 44 million individuals. The disease progression of AD varies from person to person, it is typically associated with a decline in cognitive and functional abilities [7]. Prospective studies found subject memory impairment was commonly reported among individuals years before they developed AD and dementia [8,9]. Even without the presence of dementia, the perception of memory problems is associated with negative outcomes of individual and societal significance. The severity of memory impairment was negatively associated with quality of life and various health outcomes [10,11,12]

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