title: Sugary beverage intake and preclinical Alzheimer's disease in the community.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Excess sugar consumption has been linked with Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology in animal models.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined the cross-sectional association of sugary beverage consumption with neuropsychological (N = 4276) and magnetic resonance imaging (N = 3846) markers of preclinical Alzheimer's disease and vascular brain injury (VBI) in the community-based Framingham Heart Study. Intake of sugary beverages was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Relative to consuming less than one sugary beverage per day, higher intake of sugary beverages was associated with lower total brain volume (1-2/day, β ± standard error [SE] = -0.55 ± 0.14 mean percent difference, P = .0002; >2/day, β ± SE = -0.68 ± 0.18, P < .0001), and poorer performance on tests of episodic memory (all P < .01). Daily fruit juice intake was associated with lower total brain volume, hippocampal volume, and poorer episodic memory (all P < .05). Sugary beverage intake was not associated with VBI in a consistent manner across outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Higher intake of sugary beverages was associated cross-sectionally with markers of preclinical AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Australia. Electronic address: matthewpase@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Matthew P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Pase
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jayandra J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Himali
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Jean Mayer-U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Neurology, School of Medicine & Imaging of Dementia and Aging Laboratory, Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: DeCarli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Claudia L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Satizabal
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aparicio
authors.affiliation: Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Sections of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ramachandran S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Vasan
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA; Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Alexa S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Beiser
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sudha
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seshadri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D001628:Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004327:Drinking Behavior; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D000073893:Sugars / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D000073893:Sugars
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Dementia; Diet; Framingham Heart Study; Sugar