Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
PERFORM Centre, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
Nutr J. 2020 Jun 20;19(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s12937-020-00575-3.
Consumption of a prudent dietary pattern rich in healthy nutrients is associated with enhanced cognitive performance in older adulthood, while a Western dietary pattern low in healthy nutrients is associated with poor age-related cognitive function. Sex differences exist in dietary intake among older adults; however, there is a paucity of research examining the relationship between sex-specific dietary patterns and cognitive function in later life.
The current study aimed to investigate sex differences in the relationship between sex-specific dietary pattern adherence and global cognitive function at baseline and over a 3-year follow-up in 1268 community-dwelling older adults (M = 74 years, n = 664 women, n = 612 men) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge). A 78-item Food Frequency Questionnaire was used to estimate dietary intake over the previous year. Sex-specific dietary pattern scores were derived using principal component analysis. Global cognition was assessed using the Modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS).
Adjusted linear mixed effects models indicated that a healthy, prudent dietary pattern was not associated with baseline cognitive performance in men or women. No relationship was found between Western dietary pattern adherence and baseline cognitive function in women. Among men, adherence to an unhealthy, Western dietary pattern was associated with poorer baseline cognitive function (β = - 0.652, p = 0.02, 95% CI [- 1.22, - 0.65]). No association was found between prudent or Western dietary patterns and cognitive change over time in men or women.
These findings highlight the importance of conducting sex-based analyses in aging research and suggest that the relationship between dietary pattern adherence and cognitive function in late life may be sex-dependent.
富含健康营养素的谨慎饮食模式与老年人认知表现的提高有关，而健康营养素含量低的西方饮食模式则与较差的与年龄相关的认知功能有关。老年人的饮食摄入存在性别差异；然而，关于特定性别饮食模式与晚年认知功能之间的关系的研究很少。
本研究旨在调查 1268 名居住在社区的老年人（M=74 岁，n=664 名女性，n=612 名男性）中，特定性别饮食模式的依从性与基线时和 3 年随访时的整体认知功能之间的关系存在性别差异，这些老年人来自魁北克营养与成功老龄化纵向研究（NuAge）。使用 78 项食物频率问卷来估计过去一年的饮食摄入量。使用主成分分析得出特定性别饮食模式得分。使用改良的简易精神状态检查（3MS）评估整体认知能力。
调整后的线性混合效应模型表明，健康谨慎的饮食模式与男性或女性的基线认知表现无关。在女性中，西方饮食模式的依从性与基线认知功能之间没有关系。在男性中，不健康的西方饮食模式的依从性与较差的基线认知功能相关（β=-0.652，p=0.02，95%CI [-1.22，-0.65]）。在男性或女性中，都没有发现谨慎或西方饮食模式与随时间变化的认知变化之间存在关联。
这些发现强调了在衰老研究中进行基于性别的分析的重要性，并表明饮食模式的依从性与晚年认知功能之间的关系可能取决于性别。
