Abstract
Background
Research has indicated the neuroprotective potential of the Mediterranean diet. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet has shown preventative potential for Alzheimer’s disease incidence and prevalence, yet few studies have investigated the impact of Mediterranean diet adherence on the hallmark protein; beta-amyloid.
Objectives
To investigate the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and beta-amyloid deposition in a cohort of healthy older Australian women.
Design
This study was a cross-sectional investigation of participants from the longitudinal, epidemiologically sourced Women’s Healthy Ageing Project which is a follow-up of the Melbourne Women’s Midlife Health Project.
Setting
Assessments were conducted at the Centre for Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. F-18 Florbetaben positron emission tomography scanning was conducted at the Austin Centre for PET in Victoria, Australia.
Participants
One hundred and eleven Women’s Healthy Ageing Project participants were included in the study.
Measurements
Mediterranean diet adherence scores for all participants were calculated from the administration of a validated food frequency questionnaire constructed by the Cancer Council of Victoria. Beta-amyloid deposition was measured using positron emission tomography standardised uptake value ratios.
Results
Gamma regression analysis displayed no association between Mediterranean diet adherence and beta-amyloid deposition. This result was consistent across APOE-ε4 +/- cohorts and with the inclusion of covariates such as age, education, body mass index and cognition.
Conclusions
This study found no association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and beta-amyloid deposition in a cohort of healthy Australian women.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Lau FC, Shukitt-Hale B, Joseph JA. Nutritional intervention in brain aging: reducing the effects of inflammation and oxidative stress. Subcell Biochem. 2007;42:299–318.
Barnes DE, Yaffe K. The projected effect of risk factor reduction on Alzheimer’s disease prevalence. Lancet Neurol. 2011;9:819.
Prince MJ, Wimo A, Guerchet MM et al. World Alzheimer Report 2015 -The Global Impact of Dementia: Alzheimer’s Disease International; 2015.
Féart C, Samieri C, Allès B, Barberger-Gateau P. Potential benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on cognitive health. Proc Nutr Soc. 2013;72(1):140–52.
Martinez-Gonzalez MA, Salas-Salvado J, Estruch R et al. Benefits of the Mediterranean Diet: Insights From the PREDIMED Study. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 2015(1):50–60.
Feart C, Samieri C, Barberger-Gateau P. Mediterranean diet and cognitive health: an update of available knowledge. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2015;18:51–62.
Petersson S, Philippou E. The effects of Mediterranean Diet on cognitive function and dementia: systematic review of the evidence. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. 2016;13:889–904.
Gómez-Pinilla F. Brain foods: the effects of nutrients on brain function. Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2008;9(7):568–78.
Scarmeas N, Luchsinger JA, Schupf N et al. Physical activity, diet, and risk of Alzheimer disease. J Am Med Assoc. 2009;302(6):627–37.
Knight A, Bryan J, Murphy K. Is the Mediterranean diet a feasible approach to preserving cognitive function and reducing risk of dementia for older adults in Western countries? New insights and future directions. Ageing Research Reviews. 2016;25:85–101.
Gardener SL, Rainey-Smith SR, Barnes MB et al. Dietary patterns and cognitive decline in an Australian study of ageing. Mol Psychiatry. 2015;20(7):860.
Matthews DC, Davies M, Murray J et al. Physical Activity, Mediterranean Diet and Biomarkers-Assessed Risk of Alzheimer’s: A Multi-Modality Brain Imaging Study. Advances in Molecular Imaging. 2014;4(4):43–57.
Merrill DA, Siddarth P, Raji CA et al. Modifiable Risk Factors and Brain Positron Emission Tomography Measures of Amyloid and Tau in Nondemented Adults with Memory Complaints. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2016;24(9):729–37.
Gardener S, Gu Y, Rainey-Smith SR et al. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet and Alzheimer’s disease risk in an Australian population. Transl Psychiatry. 2012;2(2):164.
Gu Y, Luchsinger JA, Stern Y, Scarmeas N. Mediterranean diet, inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers, and risk of Alzheimer’s disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2010;22(2):483–92.
Roberts RO, Geda YE, Cerhan JR et al. Vegetables, unsaturated fats, moderate alcohol intake, and mild cognitive impairment. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord. 2010;29(5):413–23.
Cherbuin N, Anstey KJ. The Mediterranean diet is not related to cognitive change in a large prospective investigation: the PATH Through Life study. The American Journal Of Geriatric Psychiatry: Official Journal Of The American Association For Geriatric Psychiatry. 2012;20(7):635–9.
Samieri C, Okereke OI, Devore EE, Grodstein F. Long-term adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with overall cognitive status, but not cognitive decline, in women. J Nutr. 2013;143(4):493–9.
Corley J, Starr JM, McNeill G, Deary IJ. Do dietary patterns influence cognitive function in old age? Int Psychogeriatr. 2013;25(9):1393–407.
Kesse-Guyot E, Andreeva VA, Lassale C et al. Mediterranean diet and cognitive function: a French study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013;97(2):369–76.
Altmann A, Tian L, Henderson VW, Greicius MD. Sex modifies the APOErelated risk of developing Alzheimer disease. Ann Neurol. 2014;75(4):563–73.
Pike KE, Ellis KA, Villemagne VL et al. Cognition and beta-amyloid in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease: Data from the AIBL study. Neuropsychologia. 2011;49:2384–90.
Aderinwale OG, Ernst HW, Mousa SA. Current therapies and new strategies for the management of Alzheimer’s disease. Am J Alzheimers Dis Other Demen. 2010;25(5):414–24.
Szoeke C, Coulson M, Campbell S, Dennerstein L. Cohort profile: Women’s Healthy Ageing Project (WHAP) -a longitudinal prospective study of Australian women since 1990. Women’s Midlife Health. 2016;2(1):5.
Giles GG, Ireland PD. Dietary Questionnaire for Epidemiological Studies (Version 2). 1996.
Sofi F, Macchi C, Abbate R et al. Mediterranean diet and health status: an updated meta-analysis and a proposal for a literature-based adherence score. Public Health Nutr. 2014;17(12):2769–82.
Szoeke CEI, Robertson JS, Rowe CC et al. The Women’s Healthy Ageing Project: Fertile ground for investigation of healthy participants ‘at risk’ for dementia. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2013;25(6):726–37.
Craig CL, Marshall AL, Sjostrom M et al. International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003;35(8):1381–95.
Absolute cardiovascular disease risk. Melbourne: National Vascular Disease Prevention Alliance; 2009.
Brown BM, Peiffer JJ, Taddei K et al. Physical activity and amyloid-[beta] plasma and brain levels: results from the Australian imaging, biomarkers and lifestyle study of ageing. Mol Psychiatry. 2013;18(8):875.
Cherbuin N, Kumar R, Anstey K. Caloric intake, but not the Mediterranean diet, is associated with cognition and mild cognitive impairment. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. 2011;7(Sup):691.
Bubu OM, Schwartz S, Umasabor-Bubu OQ. CSF p-tau, brain beta-amyloid, and hippocampal atrophy predict development of Alzheimer’s disease from MCI interactively in ADNI subjects. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. 2015;11(7):59–60.
Féart C, Samieri C, Allès B, Barberger-Gateau P. Potential benefits of adherence to the Mediterranean diet on cognitive health. Proc Nutr Soc. 2013;72(1):140.
Kostomoiri M, Fragkouli A, Sagnou M et al. Oleuropein, an Anti-oxidant Polyphenol Constituent of Olive Promotes [alpha]-Secretase Cleavage of the Amyloid Precursor Protein (A[beta]PP). Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2013(1):147.
Casamenti F, Grossi C, Rigacci S et al. Oleuropein Aglycone: A Possible Drug against Degenerative Conditions. In Vivo Evidence of its Effectiveness against Alzheimer’s Disease. J Alzheimers Dis. 2015;45(3):679–88.
Baghurst K. Red meat consumption in Australia: intakes, contributions to nutrient intake and associated dietary patterns. Eur J Cancer Prev. 1999;8(3):185–91.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hill, E., Szoeke, C., Dennerstein, L. et al. Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Is not Related to Beta-Amyloid Deposition: Data from the Women’s Healthy Ageing Project. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 5, 137–141 (2018). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2018.12
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2018.12