Adherence to four dietary indices and the risk of all‐cause and cause‐specific dementia: Findings from the UK Biobank study
Authors' conclusion
The Mediterranean Diet demonstrated the strongest association. These results highlight the potential of healthy dietary patterns to improve brain health in older adults.
Study context
- Population
- UK Biobank participants; mean age 55.7 years, 53.5% women; median follow-up 10.9 years621 developed dementia
- Participants
- 121,521 participants
- Exposure
- Highest vs lowest adherence to four dietary indices
- Outcome
- Incident all-cause dementia, Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia and non-vascular dementia (ICD-10, hospital and primary care records)
- Follow-up
- Median 10.9 years
Methodological detailspopulation-based, UK Biobank, repeated 24-h dietary recalls, Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted
- Population-based
- UK Biobank
- Repeated 24-h dietary recalls
- Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
All-cause dementia, Q4 vs Q1
Quartile 4 vs Quartile 1Hazard ratio (95% CI)
MDS
0.53(0.45–0.63)
MIND
0.61(0.48–0.78)
RFS
0.66(0.53–0.85)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Alzheimer disease, highest vs lowest adherence
| HR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| MDSSimilar association to all-cause dementia | 0.55 (0.46–0.67) | |
| RFSSimilar association to all-cause dementia | 0.61 (0.47–0.80) | |
| MINDSimilar association to all-cause dementia | 0.66 (0.51–0.87) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Vascular dementia
| HR (95% CI) | ||
|---|---|---|
| MDSLower risk | 0.46 (0.31–0.68) | |
| MINDLower risk | 0.68 (0.40–0.97) | |
| 0.20.5125Hazard ratio (log scale) |
- Only Mediterranean Diet Score (MDS) and MIND showed a lower risk of vascular dementia
5-year landmark analysis
- Associations remained in a 5-year landmark analysis
Healthy Diet Indicator (HDI) and dementia outcomes
- No associations for HDI with any dementia outcome
Original publication
Adherence to four dietary indices and the risk of all‐cause and cause‐specific dementia: Findings from the UK Biobank study. Diabetes Obes Metab. Published 16 July 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →