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Self-reported diet quality differentiates nutrient intake, blood nutrient status, mood, and cognition: Implications for identifying nutritional neurocognitive risk factors in middle age
Retrospective cross-sectional studies are responsible for generating the majority of the data behind the role of dietary quality in age-related cognitive decline and mood disturbances. In this study by Young et al. (2020), the authors demonstrate the use of a Diet Screening Tool (DST) in differentiating “optimal” from “sub-optimal” diet within a sample of 141 middle-aged healthy participants (40-65 years of age), with the objective to explore the cross-sectional relationships governing diet quality, cognition, and mood. The administration of the DST outlined nutrient consumption levels through Automated Self-Administered 24-h dietary recall, and nutrition status through blood biomarkers. The results showed that the “optimal” dietary group had substantially elevated levels of vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, fiber, vitamin B6, red blood cell folate, and substantially decreased levels of saturated fatty acids, compared to the “sub-optimal” group. Furthermore, the “optimal” dietary group had improved Stroop processing scores, and suffered fewer mood disturbances and perceived stress. The authors comment that this study presents the utility of the 20-item DST in recognizing the nutritional and psychological status of participants. [NPID: Cognition, diet quality, diet screening, middle-aged adults, mood, nutrient intake, nutrient status, nutritional risk, stress]
Year: 2020
