Dietary patterns and cognitive function in elderly men in Finland, Italy and The Netherlands

Abstract

Objective: To relate dietary patterns to cognitive function in elderly men.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Population based.

Subjects: 1049 men aged 70-91 years around 1990 in five cohorts from the Seven Countries Study: Finland (2 cohorts), the Netherlands (1 cohort), and Italy (2 cohorts).

Interventions: Food intake was estimated by a cross-check dietary history. Based on the WHO guidelines for the prevention of chronic diseases, a healthy diet indicator was calculated (HDI). A higher HDI indicates a diet more in accordance with the WHO guidelines, and previously we showed that HDI predicted reduced all-cause mortality in our cohorts. Cognitive function was measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and a score of 23 or lower was used to indicate cognitive impairment.

Results: The prevalence of cognitive impairment varied from 14.4% in Zutphen (The Netherlands) to 42.1% in Crevalcore (Italy). There was a tendency towards a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment associated with increased HDI in four out of five cohorts (not in East Finland). In Zutphen this association was borderline significant (OR=0.81; 95% CI 0.63-1.04) after adjustment for age, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption and energy intake. In Crevalcore the association was statistically significant (OR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.58-0.97).

Conclusions: A healthy diet might be associated with a better cognitive function in elderly men. However, since the results were not consistent over all five cohorts, further research is needed to confirm this finding and to decide whether this association is causal.