Impact of the mind diet on cognition and white matter integrity in an older adult cohort

The research aim of this dissertation was to understand the impact of the Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet on cognition and white matter integrity in a cohort of cognitively normal older adults. As the aging population increases world-wide and incidence of dementia climbs in concert, lifestyle interventions to prevent or delay cognitive decline are of great interest for reducing the number of individuals with dementia and curbing the demand for age-related healthcare services. These preventative approaches that focus on factors like diet and exercise, have the potential to not only provide much needed tools to healthcare providers, but also have the potential to inform public health policy as well. Identifying a brain healthy diet and understanding its implications for both cognitive performance and brain structure underlies the significance of this research aim. Diet history data over a 12-month period and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were collected from 111 older adults between the ages of 65-75. After accounting for covariates of age, sex, education, income, energy intake, body mass index, and estimate of cardiorespiratory fitness, there was a relationship between MIND diet scores and white matter structure. Specifically, MIND diet scores were positively associated white matter volume of the frontal pole. This study was not able to provide evidence for the relationship between MIND diet scores and general cognitive ability, domain specific measures of cognition, or global measures of brain aging such as inflammation. The current study contributes to the existing literature by broadening the scope of investigation concerning the MIND diet’s impact on the aging brain at the structural and physiological level.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Neuroscience

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Key, Mickeal Nelay

Contributors dc:contributor

• Barbey, Aron K.
• Stine-Morrow, Elizabeth A. L.
• Llano, Daniel
• Gupta, Arpana "Annie"

• Mind Diet
• Cognition
• Neuroimaging

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Mickeal N. Key

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120330

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120330