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. 2024 Oct 25;16(21):3631.
doi: 10.3390/nu16213631.

Cognitive Function and the Consumption of Probiotic Foods: A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Study

Lora J Kasselman  1   2 , Morgan R Peltier  3   4 , Joshua De Leon  5 , Allison B Reiss  5
Affiliations

Cognitive Function and the Consumption of Probiotic Foods: A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Study

Lora J Kasselman et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Impaired cognition is a key trait of the diseases of aging and is an important quality of life factor for older adults and their families. Over the past decade, there has been an increasing appreciation for the role of the microbiome in cognition, as well as emerging evidence that probiotics, such as those in yogurt and other dairy products, can have a positive impact on cognitive function. However, it is unclear to what extent the consumption of yogurt is associated with improved cognitive function in older adults. Methods: Therefore, we compared the scores for the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Digit-Symbol Substitution Test between respondents who self-reported daily yogurt/dairy consumption with those who claimed they did not in an NHANES. Results: We found that cognitive scores were significantly higher (40.03 ± 0.64 vs. 36.28 ± 1.26, p = 0.017) in respondents reporting daily yogurt/dairy consumption, though only a trend remained after adjusting for sociodemographic covariates (p = 0.074). Conclusions: Further studies are required to confirm that this is a cause-effect relationship and whether changing diets is a low-cost means of protecting aging populations from cognitive decline and improving their quality of life.

Keywords: cognitive function; dairy; diet; microbiome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of study participants. Abbreviations: NHANES: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; DSST: Digit–Symbol Substitution Test; DBQ: Diet Behavior Questionnaire.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Histogram of weighted age in the final sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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