Evaluation and Comparison of Dietary Patterns in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Controls

Abstract

Background: Nutrition is an important modifiable risk factor that plays a role in the strategy to prevent or delay the onset of Alzheimer disease (AD). Previous studies have focused on AD and an individual nutrients or single foodbased approach which does not take into account combinations of food that are consumed. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relation between Alzheimer disease and major dietary patterns among elderly people. Materials and methods: This case-control study was conducted on 50 elderly people who suffering from AD and 92 healthy controls (elderly people without Alzheimer disease). Usual dietary intake was assessed using a validated 168-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Major dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis. Results: From 12 food groups, three major nutrient patterns were identified: first, was high in milk and milk products, eggs, meat, poultry, fish, fat different than cream and butter, vegetables and fruit rich in vitamin C, vegetables and fruit rich in beta-carotene, vegetables and fruit different than mentioned source. The second pattern was high in grain, cereals, bread, butter, cream, sugar and sweets, and the third one included high amount of potato and seeds and legumes. The findings showed that individuals with the greatest adherence to the first dietary pattern were less likely to have AD compared with those with the lowest adherence in crude model and after stratification by age, sex and education (OR=0.13; 95% CI: 0.04-0.42 and OR=0.006; 95% CI: 0.00-0.218, respectively). Conclusion: In conclusion, dietary pattern characterized by high consumption of milk and milk product, meat, fish, vegetable and fruit was associated with lower odds of Alzheimer disease. Further studies, particularly of prospective nature, are required.