The association between a pro-inflammatory diet and brain age in middle-aged and older adults.

Michelle M Dunk, Huijie Huang, Jiao Wang, Abigail Dove, Sakura Sakakibara, Jie Guo, Adrián Carballo-Casla, David A Bennett, Weili Xu

Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18A, Floor 10, 171 65, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected] Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Tomtebodavägen 18A, Floor 10, 171 65, Stockholm, Sweden. [email protected]. · pubmed

Paper

Abstract

Pro-inflammatory diets are associated with cognitive decline and dementia, but their impact on brain aging is unclear. We investigated the association between a pro-inflammatory diet and brain age, taking into account age, genetic risk for dementia, and systemic inflammation. UK Biobank participants (N = 21,473) aged 40-70 years and free of neurological disorders were included. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was calculated from participants' average intake of 31 nutrients, assessed up to five times via 24-h recalls. Participants were categorized into four DII groups (group 1, anti-inflammatory, DII < -2; group 2, DII -2 to < 0; group 3, DII 0 to < 2; group 4, DII ≥ 2), with group 4 reflecting the most pro-inflammatory diet. Brain age was estimated using a machine learning model based on 1079 structural and functional MRI measures, obtained approximately 9 years after baseline. We calculated brain age gap (BAG; brain age minus chronological age), where BAG > 0 reflects a biologically older brain than chronological age. An Alzheimer's disease polygenic risk score (PRS

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Research summary

The paper claims that a pro-inflammatory diet is associated with an accelerated brain age in middle-aged and older adults. This research is relevant as it explores dietary influences on brain aging, which could contribute to understanding and potentially mitigating age-related cognitive decline.

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