Correlation between dietary patterns and cognitive function in older Chinese adults: A representative cross-sectional study

Ruoyu Gou; Jian Qin; Weiyi Pang; Jiansheng Cai; Tingyu Luo; Kailian He; Song Xiao; Xu Tang; Zhiyong Zhang; You Li

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1093456

Correlation between dietary patterns and cognitive function in older Chinese adults: A representative cross-sectional study

Front Nutr. 2023 Apr 4:10:1093456. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1093456. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ruoyu Gou^{1

2}, Jian Qin³, Weiyi Pang^{1

2}, Jiansheng Cai³, Tingyu Luo^{1

2}, Kailian He^{1

2}, Song Xiao^{1

2}, Xu Tang³, Zhiyong Zhang^{1

2}, You Li^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Health and Occupational Medicine, School of Public Health, Guilin Medical University, Guilin, Guangxi, China.
² The Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Exposomics and Entire Lifecycle Heath, Guilin, Guangxi, China.
³ Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, School of Public Health, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and cognitive function in older adults (≥60 years old).

Methods: Food intake was quantitatively assessed by the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ), and cognitive function was assessed by the Chinese version of the Simple Mental State Examination Scale (MMSE). Four major dietary patterns were identified by the factor analysis (FA) method. The relationship between dietary patterns and cognitive function was evaluated by logistic regression.

Results: A total of 884 participants were included in the study. Four dietary patterns (vegetable and mushroom, oil and salt, seafood and alcohol, and oil tea dietary patterns) were extracted. In the total population, Model III results showed that the fourth quartile of dietary pattern factor scores for the vegetable and mushroom pattern was 0.399 and 7.056. The vegetable and mushroom dietary pattern may be a protective factor for cognitive function, with p-value = 0.033, OR (95% CI): 0.578 (0.348, 0.951) in Model III (adjusted for covariates: sex, ethnic, marital, agricultural activities, smoking, drinking, hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, BMI, and dietary fiber). In the ethnic stratification analysis, the scores of dietary pattern factors of the vegetable and mushroom among the Yao participants were 0.333 and 5.064. The Vegetable and mushroom diet pattern may be a protective factor for cognitive function, p-value = 0.012, OR (95% CI): 0.415 (0.206, 0.815).

Conclusion: The fourth quartile of the vegetable and mushroom dietary pattern scores showed dose-dependent and a strong correlation with cognitive function. Currently, increasing vegetable and mushroom intake may be one of the effective ways to prevent and mitigate cognitive decline. It is recommended to increase the dietary intake of vegetables and mushroom foods.

Keywords: cognitive function; dietary patterns; mushrooms; older adults; vegetables.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81960583), Guangxi Graduate Education Innovation Project (Grant/Award No. GYYK2021001), and Guangxi Science and Technology Major Special Project (Grant No. GKAA22096026).