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ABSTRACT
Objective: Few data are available on the Italian elderly population with regard to adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and cognitive impairment. Our aim was to investigate adherence to the MD and its association with cognitive function in an Italian urban sample.
Methods: A cross-sectional study of 279 participants aged ≥ 65 years (80 men, 199 women) was carried out at a nutritional center. Adherence to the MD was evaluated using a 14-item questionnaire. Cognitive function was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).
Results: The clinical and nutritional assessments performed revealed 30.1% to have a dietary pattern in accordance with the MD; 13.6% had suspected or mild cognitive impairment (MMSE score ≤ 23). The MD pattern was associated with a lower risk of cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 0.39; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.15–0.99; p = 0.045), as was the consumption of wine (OR = 0.37; 95% CI, 0.16–0.84; p = 0.018) and nuts (OR = 0.30; 95% CI, 0.13–0.69, p = 0.005). No association was found with other food groups.
Conclusion: A closer adherence to the MD was associated with a better cognitive status. Further cohort studies and randomized controlled trials are warranted.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank all participants in this study as well as the staff of the International Centre for the Assessment of Nutritional Status for their knowledge and dedication throughout the project: Giulia De Carlo and Chiara Lessa for nutritional assessment and Laila Vignati and Paola Bertuletti for clinical activity. We also thank Mrs. Barbara Carey for the English revision of the manuscript.
Conflicts of interest
None of the authors have financial conflict of interest.
Author contributions
RDA carried out study design and interpretation of data and drafted the manuscript; AL carried out statistical analysis and manuscript revising; AF, DO, LL, VG, and PC carried out data collection; SF, SC, and PFC contributed to study design and carried out manuscript revising; and AB and SB carried out study design and interpretation of data and revised the manuscript.