Abstract
Objective:To assess the association between Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi) and change in brain MRI volumetric measures and mean cortical thickness across a 3-year period in older age (73–76 years).Methods:We focused on 2 longitudinal brain volumes (total and gray matter; n = 401 and 398, respectively) plus a longitudinal measurement of cortical thickness (n = 323), for which the previous cross-sectional evidence of an association with the MeDi was strongest. Adherence to the MeDi was calculated from data gathered from a food frequency questionnaire at age 70, 3 years prior to the baseline imaging data collection.Results:In regression models adjusting for relevant demographic and physical health indicators, we found that lower adherence to the MeDi was associated with greater 3-year reduction in total brain volume (explaining 0.5% of variance, p < 0.05). This effect was half the size of the largest covariate effect (i.e., age). Cross-sectional associations between MeDi and baseline MRI measures in 562 participants were not significant. Targeted analyses of meat and fish consumption did not replicate previous associations with total brain volume or total gray matter volume.Conclusions:Lower adherence to the MeDi in an older Scottish cohort is predictive of total brain atrophy over a 3-year interval. Fish and meat consumption does not drive this change, suggesting that other components of the MeDi or, possibly, all of its components in combination are responsible for the association.
Highlights
In regression models adjusting for relevant demographic and physical health indicators, we found that lower adherence to the Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi) was associated with greater 3-year reduction in total brain volume
Intracranial volume (ICV) encompassed matter within the inner skull table containing venous sinuses and with a lower limit demarcated as the axial slice just inferior to the inferior boundary of the cerebellar tonsils and on or superior to Demographic, health, cognitive, and brain MRI profile of the full cohort and grouped by lower vs higher adherence to the Mediterranean-type diet (MeDi)
Whereas we provide significance tests for lower vs higher adherence to the MeDi, such results do not consider confounding from relevant covariates
Summary
In regression models adjusting for relevant demographic and physical health indicators, we found that lower adherence to the MeDi was associated with greater 3-year reduction in total brain volume (explaining 0.5% of variance, p , 0.05). This effect was half the size of the largest covariate effect (i.e., age). Cross-sectional associations between MeDi and baseline MRI measures in 562 participants were not significant. Targeted analyses of meat and fish consumption did not replicate previous associations with total brain volume or total gray matter volume
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