Objectives: Our objective was to examine whether adherence to the Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay (MIND) was associated with SMC (as measured by the cognitive difficulties scale; CDS) in the NutriNet-Santé cohort.
Methods: The study sample consisted of 6011 participants aged ≥ 60 years at baseline, without SMC at the beginning. SMC were defined by a CDS score ≥ 43 (corresponding to the 4th CDS quartile) and SMC cases were participants with SMC at least once during follow-up. The MIND diet score (0-15 points) is a hybrid of the Mediterranean Diet and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) scores, which includes ten brain healthy food groups and five unhealthy food groups. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate Hazard Ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI).
Results: Over a mean follow-up of 6 years, approximately 15% and 30% cases of SMC were identified among participants aged 60-69 and ≥ 70 years, respectively. The MIND diet score was not significantly associated with SMC in the full sample and among participants aged 60-69 years. Among participants aged ≥ 70 years, a significant inverse association was observed between adherence to the MIND diet and SMC (HRtertile 3 vs tertile 1 = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.47-0.99). This relationship was strengthened after exclusion of participants with depressive symptoms (HRtertile 2 vs tertile 1 = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.49-0.97; HRtertile 3 vs tertile 1 = 0.62, 95% CI = 0.41-0.93).
Conclusions: These findings suggest that the MIND diet could help to prevent or delay SMC among older adults without depressive symptoms.
Keywords: Aging; Cognition; MIND diet; Nutrition; Subjective memory complaints.