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Research Project: Impact of Diet on the Aging Brain and Sensory Systems to Improve Healthspan

Location: Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging

Title: Dietary patterns and brain aging: Enthusiasm before evidence?

Author
item BOOTH, SARAH - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item ENGLISH, LAURAL - Food And Nutrition Service, USDA
item REIGH, NICOLE - Food And Nutrition Service, USDA
item JACQUES, PAUL - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item FORESTER, BRENT - Tufts Medical Center
item SHEA, KYLA - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University

Submitted to: Annual Review of Nutrition
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/10/2025
Publication Date: 8/22/2025
Citation: Booth, S.L., English, L., Reigh, N., Jacques, P.F., Forester, B., Shea, K. 2025. Dietary patterns and brain aging: Enthusiasm before evidence? Annual Review of Nutrition. 45:251-268. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-013125-030429.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-nutr-013125-030429

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Diet quality has been proposed as a determinant of brain aging, which has attracted considerable attention given the current global demographic shift towards older age. Comprehensive global systematic reviews that have explored dietary patterns and brain aging highlight a recurrent theme. Any healthy dietary pattern that includes higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, fish and/or seafood, and unsaturated vegetable oils/fats and lower consumption of red and processed meats and sugar-sweetened beverages, is associated with lower risk of age-related neurodegenerative disease. The biologic mechanism(s) underlying these cognitive protective effects are unknown. Furthermore, it is unlikely that consumption of a healthy dietary pattern alone will achieve clinically relevant success in reducing risk of cognitive decline and/or dementia given there is no single risk factor that account for the variation in brain aging.