Impact of food patterns on brain perfusion, brain structure, and cognitive function in healthy elderly people

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Götz Thomalla; Professorin Dr. Birgit-Christiane Zyriax, since 10/2019
• Subject Area: Clinical Neurology; Neurosurgery and Neuroradiology ; Nutritional Sciences
• Term: from 2019 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 427036160

• Final Report Year: 2023

Final Report Abstract

In a large population-based cohort, we investigated the relationship between nutritional behavior and cognitive functioning and applied brain MRI to measure changes in brain structure. We measured nutritional behavior by considering the adherence to several dietary patterns, and quantified cognition with a standardized neurocognitive screening battery. Structural equation modelling was applied to examine the relationship between the construct nutrition (representing a healthy nutrition) and the construct cognition (higher performance on several cognitive tests) while controlling for age, sex, and metabolic syndrome. Our findings showed a weak positive association between healthy nutrition and cognitive functioning, both directly and indirectly through its association with a reduced prevalence of metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, we explored the potential mediation of structural brain changes in the relationship between nutrition and cognition. We used 3D T1-weighted images and DWI to measure brain volume and PSMD, respectively. Our results revealed a negative association between nutrition and structural brain changes, however this relationship was only significant indirectly. In other words, healthy nutrition did not have a direct association with structural brain changes but was indirectly associated through its association with a reduced prevalence of metabolic syndrome. In addition, healthy nutrition was again positively associated with cognitive functioning, both in the direct relationship but also indirectly via metabolic syndrome and structural brain changes. It is important to note that while the effects were highly significant, the absolute effect size of the observed associations was low. Additionally, the study only contained cross-sectional data and therefore we cannot establish causality, although we defined directional relationships in the structural equation models. We suggest further research to explore the longitudinal effects of healthy nutrition on preserved brain structure and cognitive performance.

Publications

• Linking cortical atrophy to white matter hyperintensities of presumed vascular origin. Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, 41(7), 1682-1691.
  Mayer, Carola; Frey, Benedikt M.; Schlemm, Eckhard; Petersen, Marvin; Engelke, Kristin; Hanning, Uta; Jagodzinski, Annika; Borof, Katrin; Fiehler, Jens; Gerloff, Christian; Thomalla, Götz & Cheng, Bastian
  
• Network Localisation of White Matter Damage in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease. Scientific Reports, 10(1).
  Petersen, Marvin; Frey, Benedikt M.; Schlemm, Eckhard; Mayer, Carola; Hanning, Uta; Engelke, Kristin; Fiehler, Jens; Borof, Katrin; Jagodzinski, Annika; Gerloff, Christian; Thomalla, Götz & Cheng, Bastian
  
• White matter integrity and structural brain network topology in cerebral small vessel disease: The Hamburg city health study. Human Brain Mapping, 42(5), 1406-1415.
  Frey, Benedikt M.; Petersen, Marvin; Schlemm, Eckhard; Mayer, Carola; Hanning, Uta; Engelke, Kristin; Fiehler, Jens; Borof, Katrin; Jagodzinski, Annika; Gerloff, Christian; Thomalla, Götz & Cheng, Bastian
  
• Association between Dietary Pattern and Periodontitis—A Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients, 13(11), 4167.
  Altun, Ersin; Walther, Carolin; Borof, Katrin; Petersen, Elina; Lieske, Berit; Kasapoudis, Dimitros; Jalilvand, Navid; Beikler, Thomas; Jagemann, Bettina; Zyriax, Birgit-Christiane & Aarabi, Ghazal
  
• Association of Dietary Pattern, Lifestyle and Chronotype with Metabolic Syndrome in Elderly—Lessons from the Population-Based Hamburg City Health Study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(1), 377.
  Terschüren, Claudia; Damerau, Lukas; Petersen, Elina Larissa; Harth, Volker; Augustin, Matthias & Zyriax, Birgit-Christiane
  
• Knowledge as to cholesterol reduction and use of phytosterol-enriched dietary foods in the general population: Insights from the Hamburg City Health Study. Atherosclerosis, 341, 1-6.
  Zyriax, Birgit-Christiane; Borof, Katrin; Walter, Sascha; Augustin, Matthias & Windler, Eberhard
  
• Association between Coffee Consumption and Brain MRI Parameters in the Hamburg City Health Study. Nutrients, 15(3), 674.
  Mayer, Carola; Nägele, Felix L.; Petersen, Marvin; Schell, Maximilian; Aarabi, Ghazal; Beikler, Thomas; Borof, Katrin; Frey, Benedikt M.; Nikorowitsch, Julius; Senftinger, Juliana; Walther, Carolin; Wenzel, Jan-Per; Zyriax, Birgit-Christiane; Cheng, Bastian & Thomalla, Götz
  
• Editor's Choice – Prevalence of Peripheral Arterial Disease, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, and Risk Factors in the Hamburg City Health Study: A Cross Sectional Analysis. European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, 65(4), 590-598.
  Behrendt, Christian-Alexander; Thomalla, Götz; Rimmele, David L.; Petersen, Elina L.; Twerenbold, Raphael; Debus, Eike S.; Kölbel, Tilo; Blankenberg, Stefan; Schmidt-Lauber, Christian; Peters, Frederik & Zyriax, Birgit-Christiane