Association of a DASH diet and magnetoencephalography in dementia-free adults with different risk levels of Alzheimer's disease

Geroscience. 2024 Oct 1. doi: 10.1007/s11357-024-01361-3. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

This study explored how adherence to the DASH diet relates to electrophysiological measures in individuals at varying Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk due to family history (FH). There were 179 dementia-free subjects. DASH index was calculated, and participants were classified into different DASH adherence groups. Tertiles of relative alpha power in default mode network (DMN) regions were calculated. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the association. Lower DASH adherence was associated with decreased odds of higher relative alpha power in the DMN, observed across the entire sample and specifically among those without a FH of AD. Logistic regression models indicated that participants with poorer DASH adherence had a reduced likelihood of elevated DMN alpha power, potentially influenced by vascular and amyloid-beta mechanisms. These findings underscore the dietary pattern's potential role in neural activity modulation, particularly in individuals not genetically predisposed to AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Cognitively unimpaired; DASH diet; Dementia; Magnetoencephalography.