The moderating effect of dietary patterns on the longitudinal relationship between depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline — The Association Specialists
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  3. The moderating effect of dietary patterns on the longitudinal relationship between depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline

The moderating effect of dietary patterns on the longitudinal relationship between depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline (21433)

Hilal Al Shamsi 1 , Samantha L. Gardener 1 2 3 , Stephanie R. Rainey-Smith 1 2 3 4 5 , Hamid R. Sohrabi 1 2 4 6 , Kevin Taddei 1 2 , Colin L. Masters 7 , Christopher Rowe 7 8 , Ralph N. Martins 1 2 4 6 , Binosha fernando 1 2
  1. Centre of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease Research and Care, School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
  2. Alzheimer’s Research Australia, Ralph and Patricia Sarich Neuroscience Research Institute, Nedlands, WA, Australia
  3. Lifestyle Approaches Towards Cognitive Health Research Group, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
  4. Centre for Healthy Ageing, Health Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia
  5. School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
  6. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
  7. The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  8. Department of Molecular Imaging, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia

Background: The link between depression and an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease highlights the need to explore how dietary patterns may moderate the relationship between mood and cognitive decline.

Methods: This study included 407 cognitively unimpaired participants (>60 years, 41% male) from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) study. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire (baseline only), along with cognitive and mood assessments at baseline and four additional time points. Scores were generated for six cognitive domains and three dietary patterns: Mediterranean (MeDi), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and Western diet. Moderation and simple slope analyses examined interactions between baseline dietary patterns, mood changes, and cognitive decline

Results: After adjusting for false discovery rate, increasing depression was associated with greater decline in the AIBL PACC score among males with mean and below mean MeDI adherence (β=-0.006, SE=0.004, p=0.011 and β=-0.006, SE=0.003, p=0.025, respectively). This was also observed in males with mean and above mean Western diet adherence (β=-0.006, SE=0.004, p=0.019 and β=-0.006, SE=0.003, p=0.033, respectively).

Increasing depression was associated with greater decline in language in Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 carriers with mean MeDi adherence (β=-0.006, SE=0.003, p=0.048). Additionally, increasing anxiety was associated with greater decline in the AIBL PACC score in APOE ɛ4 non-carriers with lower than mean DASH diet adherence (β=-0.003, SE=0.014, p=0.045).

Conclusion: This study highlights healthier dietary intake may moderate the relationship between changes in mood and cognitive decline. These findings suggest the importance of gender- and genotype-specific approaches in mood, cognition, and diet research.