Mind Diet Adherence and Cognitive Performance in the Framingham Heart Study

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Melo van Lent, Debora^{a; b; c; d; *} | O’Donnell, Adrienne^{c; e} | Beiser, Alexa S.^{b; c; e} | Vasan, Ramachandran S.^{c; f} | DeCarli, Charles S.^h | Scarmeas, Nikolaos^{i; j} | Wagner, Michael^{d; k} | Jacques, Paul F.^{c; l} | Seshadri, Sudha^{a; b; c} | Himali, Jayandra J.^{a; b; c; e; 1} | Pase, Matthew P.^{c; m; n; 1}

Affiliations: [a] Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA | [b] Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [c] The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA | [d] German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases DZNE, Bonn, Germany | [e] Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA | [f] Sections of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [g] Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA | [h] Department of Neurology, School of Medicine & Imaging of Dementia and Aging Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA | [i] 1st Department of Neurology, Aiginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece | [j] Taub Institute for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, The Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA | [k] Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases and Geriatric Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany | [l] Jean Mayer US Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA | [m] The Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia | [n] Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Debora Melo van Lent, PhD, Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases, UT Health San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive MC 8070, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA. Tel.: +1 210 450 8421; E-mail: deboramelovanlentresearch@gmail.com.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally as co-senior authors.

Abstract: Background:Adherence to the Mediterranean-DASH for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet has previously been associated with cognitive decline and dementia. To our knowledge, no prior study has investigated the association between the MIND diet and measures of brain volume, silent brain infarcts (SBIs), or brain atrophy. Objective:We evaluated whether adherence to the MIND diet associated with superior cognitive function, larger brain volumes, fewer SBIs, and less cognitive decline in the community-based Framingham Heart Study. Methods:2,092 participants (mean±SD, age 61±9) completed Food Frequency Questionnaires, averaged across a maximum of 3-time points (examination cycles 5, 6, and 7), cognitive testing at examination cycle 7 (present study baseline: 1998–2001) and after a mean±SD of 6.6±1.1 years from baseline (n = 1,584). A subset of participants also completed brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at examination cycle 7 (n = 1,904). In addition, participants with dementia, stroke, and other relevant neurological diseases such as significant head trauma, subdural hematoma, or multiple sclerosis were excluded from the analyses. Results:Higher MIND diet scores were associated with better global cognitive function (β±SE,+0.03SD±0.01; p = 0.004), verbal memory, visual memory, processing speed, verbal comprehension/reasoning, and with larger total brain volume (TBV) following adjustments for clinical, lifestyle and demographic covariates, but not with other brain MRI measures (i.e., hippocampal volume, lateral ventricular volume, white matter hyperintensity volume, and SBIs) or cognitive decline. Conclusion:Higher MIND diet scores associated with better cognitive performance and larger TBV at baseline, but not with cognitive decline. Clinical trials are needed to ascertain whether adopting the MIND diet affects trajectories of cognitive decline.

Keywords: Apolipoprotein ɛ4, brain volume, cognition, dietary pattern, framingham heart study, MIND diet, silent brain infarcts

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-201238

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 82, no. 2, pp. 827-839, 2021