2025/11/14 by Kelly Copeland Cara, Tammy Scott, Paul F. Jacques +1 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Medicine · #Agriculture Sustainability and Environmental Impact #Cognition #Cohort #Cohort effect #Cohort study #Disease #Feeding behavior #Longitudinal data #Longitudinal study #Nutritional Studies and Diet #Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
paper · doi:10.1016/j.cdnut.2025.107599
openalex created_date 2025/11/14 · openalex publication_date 2025/11/14 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Background Cognitive reserve (CR) is the ability to compensate for brain changes, injury, and disease, and it is measured by acquired knowledge and experiences. Genes and environmental factors influence CR, but the role of diet is unclear. Objectives This study examined associations between CR and alignment with different dietary patterns and investigated diet's unique contribution to variability in CR. Methods We applied cross-sectional methods to data from the National Survey of Health and Development's 1946 British Birth Cohort. National Adult Reading Test (NART) scores at age 53 identified CR levels. Scores for the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2020 and Plant-Based Diet Indexes (PDIs overall, healthful [hPDI], and unhealthful [uPDI]) were calculated from diet recalls and diaries at ages 4, 36, 43, and 53. Multiple linear regression models identified associations between NART and cumulative mean dietary index scores while adjusting for key confounders. Owen value R 2 decomposition determined variance explained by covariate groups. Results Participants with complete data were analyzed ( n = 2514, 48% male). In regression models, NART was positively associated with HEI, PDI, and hPDI but inversely associated with uPDI. Compared with the lowest quintile, those in the highest quintile for HEI, PDI, and hPDI had significantly higher NART [adjusted mean difference (95% CI) for HEI: 2.25 (1.19, 3.30); PDI: 1.17 (0.19, 2.15); hPDI: 1.42 (0.51, 2.33)], whereas the highest quintile for uPDI showed lower NART (−1.55 [−2.55, −0.54]). Associations weakened but remained significant in models additionally adjusted for childhood cognitive ability. Among dietary patterns, HEI explained the most variation in NART (HEI 2.84%, uPDI 1.51%, hPDI 1.05%, PDI 0.51%). Conclusions CR was positively associated with healthy dietary patterns and inversely associated with unhealthful plant-based dietary patterns. Diet uniquely explained variations in CR and should be considered among influential lifestyle factors in future research. Longitudinal analyses are needed to confirm these findings.