Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 May;14(5):e3516.
doi: 10.1002/brb3.3516.

Association between adding salt in food and dementia in European descent: A mendelian randomization study

Ren Zhou  1 , Fei Chen  1 , Lei Zhang  1 , Yu Sun  1 , Rong Hu  1 , Jia Yan  1 , Hong Jiang  1
Affiliations

Association between adding salt in food and dementia in European descent: A mendelian randomization study

Ren Zhou et al. Brain Behav. 2024 May.

Abstract

Background: High salt intake has been proposed as a risk factor for dementia. However, causal relationship between salt intake and dementia remains uncertain.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to employ a mendelian randomization (MR) design to investigate the causal impact of salt intake on the risk of dementia.

Methods: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) data of exposures and outcomes (any dementia, cognitive performance, different types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease [AD], and Parkinson's disease) were obtained from the IEU database. MR estimates were generated though inverse-variance weighted model. MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR-Pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier (MR-PRESSO) method also used in our study. Sensitivity analyses included Cochran's Q test, MR-Egger intercept, MR-PRESSO global test and outlier test, leave-one-out analysis, and funnel plot assessment.

Results: Our MR analysis provided evidence of a causal association between high salt added to food and dementia (odds ratio [OR] = 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.21-2.49, and p = .003), dementia in AD (OR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.15-3.83, and p = .015), and undefined dementia (OR = 2.61, 95% CI: 1.26-5.39, and p = .009). Higher salt added was also associated with increased risk of AD (OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.12-2.87, and p = .014) and lower cognitive performance (β = -.133, 95% CI: -.229 to -.038, and p = .006).

Conclusion: This study provides evidence suggesting that high salt intake is causally associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, including AD and undefined dementia, highlighting the potential importance of reducing salt consumption as a preventive measure.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; dementia; parkinson's disease; salt intake.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no actual or potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Directed acyclic graph is used to illustrate the hypothesis of added salt in food impact on dementia. The presence of a dotted line indicates a potential direct causal relationship or pleiotropic effects between the exposure (added salt in food) and the outcome (dementia).
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Scatter plot depicts the results of mendelian randomization (MR) analyses investigating the association between dietary salt intake and dementia. Each line in the plot represents a different MR method, and the slope of each line represents the estimated association between the two variables: (a) scatter plot between added salt in food and any dementia; (b) scatter plot between added salt in food and cognitive performance; (c) scatter plot between added salt in food and Alzheimer's disease; (d) scatter plot between added salt in food and dementia in Alzheimer's disease; (e) scatter plot between added salt in food and undefined dementia.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The figure displays the results of a leave‐one‐out analysis in mendelian randomization (MR). Each black line in the figure corresponds to the outcome of the MR analysis when one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) is removed from the analysis, whereas the remaining SNPs are used on the left: (a) leave‐one‐out analysis between added salt in food and any dementia; (b) leave‐one‐out analysis between added salt in food and cognitive performance; (c) leave‐one‐out analysis between added salt in food and Alzheimer's disease; (d) leave‐one‐out analysis between added salt in food and dementia in Alzheimer's disease; (e) leave‐one‐out analysis between added salt in food and undefined dementia.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Aarsland, D. (2020). Epidemiology and pathophysiology of dementia‐related psychosis. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 81(5), AD19038BR1C. 10.4088/jcp.Ad19038br1c - DOI - PubMed
    1. Adkins‐Jackson, P. B. , George, K. M. , Besser, L. M. , Hyun, J. , Lamar, M. , Hill‐Jarrett, T. G. , Bubu, O. M. , Flatt, J. D. , Heyn, P. C. , Cicero, E. C. , Zarina Kraal, A. , Pushpalata Zanwar, P. , Peterson, R. , Kim, B. , Turner, R. W. , Viswanathan, J. , Kulick, E. R. , Zuelsdorff, M. , Stites, S. D. , … Babulal, G. (2023). The structural and social determinants of Alzheimer's disease related dementias. Alzheimers Dement, 19(7), 3171–3185. 10.1002/alz.13027 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baumgart, M. , Snyder, H. M. , Carrillo, M. C. , Fazio, S. , Kim, H. , & Johns, H. (2015). Summary of the evidence on modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia: A population‐based perspective. Alzheimers Dementia, 11(6), 718–726. 10.1016/j.jalz.2015.05.016 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bowden, J. , Davey Smith, G. , & Burgess, S. (2015). Mendelian randomization with invalid instruments: Effect estimation and bias detection through Egger regression. International Journal of Epidemiology, 44(2), 512–525. 10.1093/ije/dyv080 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Burgess, S. , Butterworth, A. , & Thompson, S. G. (2013). Mendelian randomization analysis with multiple genetic variants using summarized data. Genetic Epidemiology, 37(7), 658–665. 10.1002/gepi.21758 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances