Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Long-term intake of nuts in relation to cognitive function in older women

  • Published:
The journal of nutrition, health & aging

Abstract

Objective

Nuts contain nutrients that may benefit brain health; thus, we examined long-term intake of nuts in relation to cognition in older women.

Design

Population-based prospective cohort study.

Setting

Academic research using data from the Nurses’ Health Study.

Participants

Nut intake was assessed in a food-frequency questionnaire beginning inl980, and approximately every four years thereafter. Between 1995–2001, 16,010 women age 70 or older (mean age = 74 years) without a history of stroke were administered 4 repeated telephone-based cognitive interviews over 6 years. Our final sample included 15,467 women who completed an initial cognitive interview and had complete information on nut intake.

Main Outcome Measures

The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS), a global score averaging the results of all tests (TICS, immediate and delayed verbal recall, category fluency, and attention), and a verbal memory score averaging the results of tests of verbal recall.

Results

In multivariable-adjusted linear regression models, higher long-term total nut intake was associated with better average cognitive status for all cognitive outcomes. For the global composite score combining all tests, women consuming at least 5 servings of nuts/week had higher scores than non-consumers (mean difference=0.08 standard units, 95% confidence interval 0.00–0.15; p-trend=0.003). This mean difference of 0.08 is equivalent to the mean difference we find between women 2 years apart in age. Long-term intake of nuts was not associated with rates of cognitive decline.

Conclusions

Higher nut intake may be related to better overall cognition at older ages, and could be an easily-modifiable public health intervention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ALA:

α-linolenic acid

BMI:

body mass index

CI:

confidence interval

FFQ:

food-frequency questionnaire

MET-h:

metabolic equivalence hour

MUFA:

monounsaturated fatty acid

NHS:

Nurses’ Health Study

PUFA:

polyunsaturated fatty acid

SD:

standard deviation

TICS:

Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status

References

  1. Brufau G, Boatella J, Rafecas M: Nuts: source of energy and macronutrients. The British journal of nutrition 2006, 96Suppl 2:S24–S28.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Mukuddem-Petersen J, Oosthuizen W, Jerling JC: A systematic review of the effects of nuts on blood lipid profiles in humans. The Journal of nutrition 2005, 135:2082–2089.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Fraser GE, Sabate J, Beeson WL, Strahan TM: A possible protective effect of nut consumption on risk of coronary heart disease. The Adventist Health Study. Archives of Internal Medicine 1992, 152:1416–1424.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Hu FB, Stampfer MJ, Manson JE, Rimm EB, Colditz GA, Rosner BA, Speizer FE, Hennekens CH, Willett WC: Frequent nut consumption and risk of coronary heart disease in women: prospective cohort study. BMJ (Clinical research ed) 1998. 317:1341–1345.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Kushi LH, Folsom AR, Prineas RJ, Mink PJ, Wu Y, Bostick RM: Dietary antioxidant vitamins and death from coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women. The New England journal of medicine 1996, 334:1156–1162.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Jiang R, Manson JE, Stampfer MJ, Liu S, Willett WC, Hu FB: Nut and peanut butter consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes in women. JAMA: the journal of the American Medical Association 2002, 288:2554–2560.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jenkins DJ, Hu FB, Tapsell LC, Josse AR, Kendall CW: Possible benefit of nuts in type 2 diabetes. The Journal of nutrition 2008, 138:1752S–1756S.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Yehuda S, Rabinovitz S, Mostofsky DI: Essential fatty acids and the brain: from infancy to aging. Neurobiology of aging 2005, 26Suppl 1:98–102.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Nooyens AC, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, van Boxtel MP, van Gelder BM, Verhagen H, Verschuren WM: Fruit and vegetable intake and cognitive decline in middle-aged men and women: the Doetinchem Cohort Study. The British journal of nutrition 2011, 106:752–761.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Samieri C, Grodstein F, Rosner BA, Kang JH, Cook NR, Manson JE, Buring JE, Willett WC, Okereke OI: Mediterranean diet and cognitive function in older age. Epidemiology 2013, 24:490–499.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Samieri C, Okereke OI, E ED, Grodstein F: Long-term adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with overall cognitive status, but not cognitive decline, in women. J Nutr 2013, 143:493–499.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Willett WC, Sampson L, Browne ML, Stampfer MJ, Rosner B, Hennekens CH, Speizer FE: The use of a self-administered questionnaire to assess diet four years in the past. American Journal of Epidemiology 1988, 127:188–199.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Willett WC, Sampson L, Stampfer MJ, Rosner B, Bain C, Witschi J, Hennekens CH, Speizer FE: Reproducibility and validity of a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. American Journal of Epidemiology 1985, 122:51–65.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Salvini S, Hunter DJ, Sampson L, Stampfer MJ, Colditz GA, Rosner B, Willett WC: Food-based validation of a dietary questionnaire: the effects of week-to-week variation in food consumption. International journal of epidemiology 1989, 18:858–867.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Tabert MH, Manly JJ, Liu X, Pelton GH, Rosenblum S, Jacobs M, Zamora D, Goodkind M, Bell K, Stern Y, Devanand DP: Neuropsychological prediction of conversion to Alzheimer disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment. Archives of General Psychiatry 2006, 63:916–924.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Stampfer MJ, Kang JH, Chen J, Cherry R, Grodstein F: Effects of moderate alcohol consumption on cognitive function in women. The New England journal of medicine 2005, 352:245–253.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Kang JH, Ascherio A, Grodstein F: Fruit and vegetable consumption and cognitive decline in aging women. Annals of Neurology 2005, 57:713–720.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Devore EE, Kang JH, Breteler MM, Grodstein F: Dietary intakes of berries and flavonoids in relation to cognitive decline. Annals of Neurology 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Alexiadou K, Katsilambros N: Nuts: anti-atherogenic food? European journal of internal medicine 2011, 22:141–146.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Ellsworth JL, Kushi LH, Folsom AR: Frequent nut intake and risk of death from coronary heart disease and all causes in postmenopausal women: the Iowa Women’s Health Study. Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases: NMCD 2001, 11:372–377.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Griel AE, Kris-Etherton PM: Tree nuts and the lipid profile: a review of clinical studies. The British journal of nutrition 2006, 96Suppl 2:S68–78.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Casas-Agustench P, Bullo M, Salas-Salvado J: Nuts, inflammation and insulin resistance. Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2010, 19:124–130.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Casas-Agustench P, Lopez-Uriarte P, Ros E, Bullo M, Salas-Salvado J: Nuts, hypertension and endothelial function. Nutrition, metabolism, and cardiovascular diseases: NMCD 2011, 21Suppl 1:S21–33.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Grodstein F: Cardiovascular risk factors and cognitive function. Alzheimer’s & dementia: the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association 2007, 3:S16–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Haider S, Batool Z, Tabassum S, Perveen T, Saleem S, Naqvi F, Javed H, Haleem DJ: Effects of Walnuts (Juglans regia) on Learning and Memory Functions. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition (Dordrecht, Netherlands) 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Shatenstein B, Gauvin L, Keller H, Richard L, Gaudreau P, Giroux F, Gray-Donald K, Jabbour M, Morais JA, Payette H: Baseline determinants of global diet quality in older men and women from the NuAge cohort. J Nutr Health Aging 2013, 17:419–425.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Jacqueline O’Brien, O. Okereke, E. Devore, B. Rosner & F. Grodstein

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Jacqueline O’Brien, O. Okereke, M. Breteler & F. Grodstein

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    O. Okereke

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    B. Rosner

  5. German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Bonn, Germany

    M. Breteler

  6. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Jacqueline O’Brien

Authors
  1. Jacqueline O’Brien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. O. Okereke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. E. Devore
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. B. Rosner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M. Breteler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. F. Grodstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jacqueline O’Brien.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

O’Brien, J., Okereke, O., Devore, E. et al. Long-term intake of nuts in relation to cognitive function in older women. J Nutr Health Aging 18, 496–502 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-014-0014-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-014-0014-6

Key words

Search

Navigation