title: Food Insecurity Is Associated with Subsequent Cognitive Decline in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.
abstract: Living with hunger and fear of not having enough food is a growing worldwide concern. In our previous cross-sectional study, we found that food insecurity was associated with poor cognitive function, but the direction of this relation remains unclear.
  
  
  
  We investigated whether food insecurity is associated with subsequent cognitive decline.
  
  
  
  This was a longitudinal study of 597 participants aged 40-75 y from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study cohort, with a Mini-Mental State Examination score of ≥24 at baseline. Food security was assessed at baseline with the US Household Food Security Scale. Participants completed cognitive batteries, which included 7 cognitive tests, twice-at baseline and again at a 2-y follow-up. The primary outcome was the change in global cognitive function over 2 y. Multiple linear regression was used to obtain adjusted mean differences and 95% CIs in cognitive decline across baseline food security status.
  
  
  
  Food insecurity at baseline was associated with a 2-y decline in global cognitive function (P-trend = 0.03) after adjusting for relevant potential confounders, including age, sex, baseline cognitive score, body mass index, education, poverty, acculturation score, depression score, smoking status, use of alcohol, physical activity score, presence of diabetes and hypertension, apolipoprotein E status, plasma homocysteine, healthy eating index, and time between baseline and follow-up measures. Compared with the food-secure group, the decline in the very low food security group was greater [mean difference: -0.26 (95% CI: -0.41, -0.10)]. Baseline food insecurity was significantly associated with a faster decline in executive function (P-trend = 0.02) but not memory function (P-trend = 0.66).
  
  
  
  Food insecurity was associated with faster cognitive decline in this cohort of Puerto Rican adults. Our study emphasizes the importance of developing interventions for food insecurity that take into account the impact of food insecurity on cognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA;
authors.forename: Janice C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Tufts Medical Center and.
authors.forename: Tammy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.affiliation: Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA;
authors.forename: Parke
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilde
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Health, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL;
authors.forename: Yin-Ge
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory and Nutritional Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA; and.
authors.forename: Katherine L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA xxg14@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001057:Apolipoproteins E / Q000097:blood; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D003071:Cognition; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000208:ethnology*; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005523:Food Supply; D006710:Homocysteine / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011647:Puerto Rico / Q000208:ethnology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
chemical_list: D001057:Apolipoproteins E; D006710:Homocysteine
keywords: cognitive decline; dementia; epidemiology; nutrition; public health