Associations of Diet Quality with Midlife Brain Volume: Findings from the UK Biobank Cohort Study.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Higher quality diets may be related to lower dementia rates. Midlife is emerging as a critical life stage for a number of dementia risk factors. OBJECTIVE: This study examines whether diet quality is related to brain structure during midlife, and if this differs by sex. METHODS: This study used data from 19184 UK Biobank participants aged 40-65 years. Diet quality was assessed using three dietary indices including the Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS), Healthy Diet Score (HDS), and Recommended Food Score (RFS). MRI brain measures included total, grey, white and hippocampal volume. Linear regression examined associations between diet quality and brain volume, controlling for potentia..