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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #389490
Research Project: Preventing the Development of Childhood Obesity

Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center

Title: DASH diet adherence and cognitive function: Multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis

Author
item DANIEL, GEORGE - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item CHEN, HAIYING - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item BERTONI, ALAIN - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item RAPP, STEPHEN - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item FITZPATRICK, ANNETTE - University Of Washington
item LUCHSINGER, JOSE - Columbia University Medical Center
item WOOD, ALEXIS - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item HUGHES, TIMOTHY - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item BURKE, GREGORY - Wake Forest School Of Medicine
item HAYDEN, KATHLEEN - Wake Forest School Of Medicine

Submitted to: Clinical Nutrition ESPEN
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/4/2021
Publication Date: 10/11/2021
Citation: Daniel, G.D., Chen, H., Bertoni, A.G., Rapp, S.R., Fitzpatrick, A.L., Luchsinger, J.A., Wood, A.C., Hughes, T.M., Burke, G.L., Hayden, K.M. 2021. DASH diet adherence and cognitive function: Multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnesp.2021.10.004.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnesp.2021.10.004

Interpretive Summary: Adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet has been associated with better cognitive function in studies of predominantly White participants and very few studies have examined whether this is the case in people with more diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. Therefore, we evaluated associations between DASH diet and cognitive function in a large sample of African- American, Hispanic, and Chinese-American adults. In this diverse sample, DASH diet adherence was not associated with cognitive performance or cognitive decline over time. However, components of the DASH diet were differentially correlated with test performance: increased consumption of nuts/legumes and whole grains were associated with better performance in all racial/ethnic groups. Our results suggest that more work needs to be done oin ethnically diverse group to understand the relationship between diet and cognitive function. We tentatively suggest however, that whole grains and nuts/legumes may be beneficial for all in this regard.

Technical Abstract: The Adherence to the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet has been associated with better cognitive function in studies of predominantly White participants; few studies have examined this association in diverse cohorts. Our objective was to examine the association between the DASH diet and cognitive function in the diverse Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) cohort. Among 4169 MESA participants, we evaluated prospectively, the association between DASH diet adherence and cognitive function. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire at baseline (2000–2002) and cognitive function was assessed using the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI), Digit Symbol Coding (DSC), and Digit Span (DS) at Exam 5 in 2010–2012 and Exam 6 (2016–2019). Regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between quintiles of DASH diet adherence with CASI, DSC, and DS performance and decline, adjusting for potential confounders. Effect modification by hypertension, diabetes, race/ethnicity, acculturation, and exercise were evaluated. DASH diet adherence was not associated with cognitive performance or decline for any of the measures. There were no differences by racial/ethnic groups, with the exception that Hispanic participants reporting greater DASH diet adherence, performed worse on DS at Exam 5 (p=0.05). Components of the DASH diet were differentially correlated with test performance: increased consumption of nuts/legumes was associated with better performance on the CASI at Exam 5 (p=0.003) and Exam 6 (p=0.007). Increased consumption of whole grains was associated with better DSC performance at Exam 5 (p=0.04) and better DS performance at Exam 6 (p=0.01). DASH diet adherence was nominally associated with cognitive function with a suggestion of differences by race/ethnicity. Future work should examine more closely, the relationships between racial and ethnic groups and the impact of diet on cognitive function.