Adherence to a Mediterranean-type dietary pattern and XXXX in a community population.

@entity1 @entity73 @entity283
BACKGROUND: Many of the foods abundant in the traditional Mediterranean diet, such as vegetables and fish, have been associated with slower @entity73 . OBJECTIVE: We investigated whether adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern or to the Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI-2005) is associated with @entity73 in older adults. DESIGN: This article is based on analyses of data from an ongoing longitudinal study in adults aged >= 65 y known as the @entity283 ( @entity283 ). @entity283 @entity1 (2280 blacks and 1510 whites) with >= 2 cognitive assessments were evaluated for adherence to 1) the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MedDiet; maximum score: 55) and 2) the HEI-2005 (maximum score: 100). For both scoring systems, higher scores connote greater adherence. Cognitive function was assessed at 3-y intervals on the basis of a composite measure of global cognition. Linear mixed models were used to examine the association of dietary scores to change in cognitive function. Mean follow-up time was 7.6 y. RESULTS: Mean (  SD) scores for @entity1 were 28.2    0.1 for the MedDiet and 61.2    9.6 for the HEI-2005. White @entity1 had higher energy-adjusted MedDiet scores but lower HEI-2005 scores than did black @entity1 . Higher MedDiet scores were associated with slower rates of @entity73 (b = +0.0014 per 1-point increase, SEE = 0.0004, P = 0.0004) after adjustment for age, sex, race, education, participation in cognitive activities, and energy. No such associations were observed for HEI-2005 scores. CONCLUSION: The Mediterranean dietary pattern as captured by the MedDiet scoring system may reduce the rate of @entity73 with older age.
