Relation between dairy food intake and cognitive function: The Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study.
Diet modification to alter the course of age-related cognitive decline is becoming increasingly important. Few observational findings suggest that dairy food intake may be positively related to cognitive function, but research in this novel area is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate whether dairy food intake is associated with cognitive function, before and after adjustment for cardiovascular, lifestyle and dietary factors. To do this, a cross-sectional analyses of a subset of the community-based Maine-Syracuse Longitudinal Study (MSLS) sample (N= 972) was undertaken. It was determined that participants who consumed dairy products at least once per day had significantly higher scores on multiple domains of cognitive function compared with those who never or rarely consumed dairy foods, adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle and dietary factors. Frequent dairy food intake is associated with better cognitive performance but underlying causal mechanisms are still to be determined.
Nutritional Physiology Research Centre, University of South Australia, Adelaide 5001, Australia.
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Crichton
Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA ; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
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Elias
Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
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Dore
Department of Psychology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA ; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA.
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Robbins