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Dietary glycaemic load associated with cognitive performance in elderly subjects

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European Journal of Nutrition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

A Letter to the Editor to this article was published on 12 December 2014

Abstract

Purpose

Ageing is associated with loss of cognitive function and an increased risk of dementia which is expected to place growing demands on health and long-term care providers. Among multiple causative factors, evidence suggests that cognitive impairment in older subjects may be influenced by diet. The objective of this study was to examine the association between dietary patterns, dietary glycaemic load (GL) and cognition in older Irish adults.

Methods

Community-dwelling subjects (n 208; 94 males and 114 females; aged 64–93 years) were analysed. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Cognitive capacity was tested using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The data were clustered to derive patterns of dietary intake. Multivariable-adjusted logistic and Poisson regression models were used to examine the relationship between dietary GL and MMSE score.

Results

Elderly subjects consuming ‘prudent’ dietary patterns (high in fruit, vegetables, fish, low-fat dairy and salad dressings and low in red meat and white bread) had higher MMSE scores (better cognitive function) than those consuming ‘Western’ dietary pattern (high in red meat and white bread and low in fruit and vegetables; P < 0.05). Logistic and Poisson regression analyses both indicated that the MMSE score was inversely associated with the GL of the diet (P < 0.05) even after adjusting for age, gender, diabetes, hypertension, healthy food diversity, nutritional status, residential property price, cardiovascular medications and energy intake.

Conclusion

In this community-dwelling elderly Irish cohort, consumption of a high glycaemic diet is associated with poorer cognitive performance as assessed by the MMSE.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Government of Ireland National Development Plan by way of a Department of Agriculture Food and Marine, and Health Research Board FHRI award to the ELDERMET project as well as by a Science Foundation Ireland award to the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre. S.E.P is supported by the Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship Enterprise Partnership Scheme (in collaboration with Alimentary Health Ltd.) and by the Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (SFI Grant No. 07/CE/B1368). All authors are members of the ELDERMET consortium. S.E.P and I.B.J conducted the analyses. S.E.P wrote the manuscript. I.B.J and E.M.O’C conceived and developed the idea for the study. E.M.O’C, I.B.J, P.W.O’T, R.P.R, C.S and G.F.F critically reviewed the manuscript and contributed to its revision. This study is an output of the ELDERMET consortium (http://eldermet.ucc.ie). We are grateful to all those who participated in this study. We are also grateful to Feargal J. Ryan, Hugh M.B. Harris, Patricia Egan, NessaGallwey and Karen O’Donovan for clinical and technical help.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Microbiology, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Susan E. Power, Paul W. O’Toole, Gerald F. Fitzgerald & Ian B. Jeffery

  2. Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Susan E. Power, Eibhlís M. O’Connor, R. Paul Ross, Catherine Stanton, Paul W. O’Toole, Gerald F. Fitzgerald & Ian B. Jeffery

  3. Teagasc Food Research Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co., Cork, Ireland

    R. Paul Ross & Catherine Stanton

  4. Department of Life Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Eibhlís M. O’Connor

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  1. Susan E. Power
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Correspondence to Gerald F. Fitzgerald.

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Power, S.E., O’Connor, E.M., Ross, R.P. et al. Dietary glycaemic load associated with cognitive performance in elderly subjects. Eur J Nutr 54, 557–568 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-014-0737-5

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