Fornix fractional anisotropy mediates the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and memory four years later in older adults without dementia.

Jessica S Damoiseaux, Frank Jessen, Alfredo Ramirez, Klaus Scheffler, Stefan Teipel, Daniel Janowitz, Wenzel Glanz, Michael Wagner, Annika Spottke, Eike Jakob Spruth, Jens Wiltfang, Peter Dechent, Laura Dobisch, Ingo Frommann, Doreen Goerss, Debora Melo van Lent, Matthias H J Munk, Nina Roy, Boris-Stephan Rauchmann, Kathrin Finke, Michael Ewers, Ayda Rostamzadeh, Enise I Incesoy, Renat Yakupov, Claudia Bartels, Klaus Fliessbach, Stefan Hetzer, Adriana L Ruiz-Rizzo, Nicoleta Carmen Cosma, Ingo Kilimann, Emrah Duezel, Katharina Buerger, Christoph Laske, Robert Perneczky, Oliver Peters, Josef Priller, Anja Schneider

Journal: Neurobiology of aging 2024;136():99-110

PMID: 38340637

Abstract

Here, we investigated whether fractional anisotropy (FA) of hippocampus-relevant white-matter tracts mediates the association between baseline Mediterranean diet adherence (MeDiAd) and verbal episodic memory over four years. Participants were healthy older adults with and without subjective cognitive decline and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment from the DELCODE cohort study (n = 376; age: 71.47 ± 6.09 years; 48.7 % female). MeDiAd and diffusion data were obtained at baseline. Verbal episodic memory was assessed at baseline and four yearly follow-ups. The associations between baseline MeDiAd and white matter, and verbal episodic memory's mean and rate of change over four years were tested with latent growth curve modeling. Baseline MeDiAd was associated with verbal episodic memory four years later (95 % confidence interval, CI [0.01, 0.32]) but not with its rate of change over this period. Baseline Fornix FA mediated - and, thus, explained - that association (95 % CI [0.002, 0.09]). Fornix FA may be an appropriate response biomarker of Mediterranean diet interventions on verbal memory in older adults.

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Address: Department of Neurology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Department of Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology Unit, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: [email protected].; Department of Neurology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany; Department of Psychology, General and Experimental Psychology Unit, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.; Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA; Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Goettingen, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Munich), Munich, Germany; Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD), University Hospital, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany.; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin-Institute of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Germany.; MR-Research in Neurosciences, Department of Cognitive Neurology, Georg-August-University Goettingen, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany; University of Bonn Medical Center, Dept. of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry/Psychiatry, Bonn, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany; Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany.; Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Charité - Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research (IKND), Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Clinic Magdeburg, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE, Munich), Munich, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany; Section for Dementia Research, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA; Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Tübingen, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin-Institute of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité, Berlin, Germany; School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Munich, Germany; University of Edinburgh and UK DRI, Edinburgh, UK.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany; University of Bonn Medical Center, Dept. of Neurodegenerative Disease and Geriatric Psychiatry/Psychiatry, Bonn, Germany; Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Division of Neurogenetics and Molecular Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Psychiatry & Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative Diseases, San Antonio, TX, USA.; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty, Cologne, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.; Department for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany; Department of Neurology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Berlin, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité, Berlin, Germany.; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Goettingen, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany; Neurosciences and Signaling Group, Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED), Department of Medical Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany; Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty, Cologne, Germany.; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany; Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research (IKND), Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany; Department of Neurology, Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany.; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany; Ageing Epidemiology (AGE) Research Unit, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK; Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany; Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich, Germany; Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK; Institute of Neuroradiology, University Hospital, LMU Munich, Germany.

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