Healthy dietary patterns in relation to cognitive performance and Alzheimer’s disease mortality

Dietary factors play a major role in cognitive aging, but few studies have assessed and compared the associations between specific dietary patterns and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) mortality.
A research team included 27,773 US participants (mean age = 59.8 years, 51.4 % female) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1998 and 2016, with follow-up for AD mortality until December 2019. Five dietary pattern scores were calculated utilizing one (1999-2002) or two repeated (2003-2016) 24hr dietary recalls, including the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015), the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), the alternate Mediterranean diet (aMED), the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension diet (DASH), and the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegeneration Delay diet (MIND) scores. The associations of these dietary pattern scores with AD mortality were evaluated.
A total of 260 AD deaths occurred during a median follow-up of 9.8 years. Higher aMED score was associated with a lower risk of AD mortality (HRT3vs T1: 0.72, 95 % CI, 0.52-1.00, p-trend = 0.041). In a sub-sample of 2,713 participants in NHANES 2011-2014, 432 individuals had prevalent psychometric mild cognitive impairment (p-MCI). Higher aMED, MIND, HEI-2015, and hPDI were associated with lower odds of p-MCI. The potential contributors to these associations included higher intake levels of vegetables and nuts, moderate alcohol consumption, and lower intake level of sweets.
The Mediterranean dietary pattern was associated with more favourable cognitive outcomes among middle-aged and older adults, underscoring the importance of a healthy diet for long-term benefits in cognitive and brain health.
Source: Gong Y, Chen H, Gu Y, Shen J, Shen T, Ding Y, Lu M, Huang L, Yan M, Song P, Zhu Y, Rong S, Yuan C. Healthy dietary patterns in relation to cognitive performance and Alzheimer’s disease mortality. J Prev Alzheimers Dis. 2025 Mar 6:100100.