Dataset Information

Nutrient intake and brain biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in at-risk cognitively normal individuals: a cross-sectional neuroimaging pilot study.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

There is increasing evidence to suggest that diet, one of the most important modifiable environmental factors, may play a role in preventing or delaying cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examines the relationship between dietary nutrients and brain biomarkers of AD in cognitively normal individuals (NL) with and without AD risk factors.

Design

As part of an ongoing brain imaging study, participants received clinical and laboratory examinations, a neurocognitive test battery, positron emission tomography (PET) with (11)C-Pittsburgh Compound-B (PiB; a measure of amyloid-? (A?) load) and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG; a proxy of neuronal activity), and completed semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires.

Setting

Research centre affiliated with the Alzheimer's disease Core Center at New York University School of Medicine.

Participants

49 NL individuals (age 25-72?years, 69% women) with dietary information, (11)C-PiB and (18)F-FDG PET scans were examined.

Results

Controlling for age and total caloric intake, higher intake of vitamin B12, vitamin D and ?-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) was associated with lower A? load in AD regions on PiB-PET, while higher intake of ?-carotene and folate was associated with higher glucose metabolism on FDG-PET. ?-carotene and folate were associated with reduced glucose metabolism for women, apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 (APOE4) carriers and participants with positive AD family history, but not for their risk-free counterparts. The associations of vitamin B12, vitamin D and ?-3 PUFA with PiB retention were independent of gender, APOE and family history. The identified nutrient combination was associated with higher intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, fish and legumes, and lower intake of high-fat dairies, meat and sweets.

Conclusions

Our data provide a potential pathophysiological mechanism for epidemiological findings showing that dietary interventions may play a role in the prevention of AD. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine whether there is a direct link between nutrient intake, brain biomarkers and risk of AD.

SUBMITTER: Mosconi L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4078781 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Nutrient intake and brain biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in at-risk cognitively normal individuals: a cross-sectional neuroimaging pilot study.

Mosconi Lisa L Murray John J Davies Michelle M Williams Schantel S Pirraglia Elizabeth E Spector Nicole N Tsui Wai H WH Li Yi Y Butler Tracy T Osorio Ricardo S RS Glodzik Lidia L Vallabhajosula Shankar S McHugh Pauline P Marmar Charles R CR de Leon Mony J MJ

BMJ open 20140624 6

<h4>Objective</h4>There is increasing evidence to suggest that diet, one of the most important modifiable environmental factors, may play a role in preventing or delaying cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examines the relationship between dietary nutrients and brain biomarkers of AD in cognitively normal individuals (NL) with and without AD risk factors.<h4>Design</h4>As part of an ongoing brain imaging study, participants received clinical and laboratory examinations, a ...[more]

PMID: 24961717

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Project description:Epidemiological evidence linking diet, one of the most important modifiable lifestyle factors, and risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly increasing. However, there is little or no evidence for a direct association between dietary nutrients and brain biomarkers of AD. This study identifies nutrient patterns associated with major brain AD biomarkers in a cohort of clinically and cognitively normal (NL) individuals at risk for AD.Cross-sectional study.Manhattan (broader area).Fifty-two NL individuals (age 54+12 y, 70% women, Clinical Dementia Rating=0, MMSE>27, neuropsychological test performance within norms by age and education) with complete dietary information and cross-sectional, 3D T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI; gray matter volumes, GMV, a marker of brain atrophy), 11C-Pittsburgh compound-B (PiB; a marker of fibrillar amyloid-?, A?) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG; a marker of glucose metabolism, METglc) Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans were examined.Dietary intake of 35 nutrients associated with cognitive function and AD was assessed using the Harvard/Willet Food Frequency Questionnaire. Principal component analysis was used to generate nutrient patterns (NP) from the full nutrient panel. Statistical parametric mapping and voxel based morphometry were used to assess the associations of the identified NPs with AD biomarkers.None of the participants were diabetics, smokers, or met criteria for obesity. Five NPs were identified: NP1 was characterized by most B-vitamins and several minerals [VitB and Minerals]; NP2 by monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, including ?-3 and ?-6 PUFA, and vitamin E [VitE and PUFA]; NP3 by vitamin A, vitamin C, carotenoids and dietary fibers [Anti-oxidants and Fibers]; NP4 by vitamin B12, vitamin D and zinc [VitB12 and D]; NP5 by saturated, trans-saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium [Fats]. Voxel-based analysis showed that NP4 scores [VitB12 and D] were positively associated with METglc and GMV, and negatively associated with PiB retention in AD-vulnerable regions (p<0.001). In addition, both METglc and GMV were positively associated with NP2 scores [VitE and PUFA], and negatively associated with NP5 scores [Fats] (p<0.001), and METglc was positively associated with higher NP3 scores [Anti-oxidants and Fibers] (p<0.001). Adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, education, caloric intake, BMI, alcohol consumption, family history and Apolipoprotein E (APOE) status did not attenuate these relationships. The identified 'AD-protective' nutrient combination was associated with higher intake of fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, fish and low-fat dairies, and lower intake of sweets, fried potatoes, high-fat dairies, processed meat and butter.Specific dietary NPs are associated with brain biomarkers of AD in NL individuals, suggesting that dietary interventions may play a role in the prevention of AD by modulating AD-risk through its effects on A? and associated neuronal impairment.

Project description:BackgroundUnderstanding the variation in uptake between different amyloid PET tracers is important to appropriately interpret data using different amyloid tracers. Therefore, we compared the uptake differences in [18F]Flutemetamol (FMT) and [11C]PiB (PiB) PET in the same people.MethodsStructural MRI, FMT PET and PiB PET were each performed in 30 young cognitively normal (yCN), 31 elderly cognitively normal (eCN) and 21 Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD) participants. PiB and FMT images for each participant were compared quantitatively using voxel- and region-based analyses. Region of interest (ROI) analyses included comparisons of grey matter (GM) regions as well as white matter (WM) regions. Regional comparisons of each tracer between different groups and comparisons of the two modalities within the different groups were performed. To compare mean SUVr between modalities, and between diagnostic groups, we used paired t-tests and Student's t-test, respectively. We also compared the ability of the two tracers to discriminate between diagnostic groups using AUROC estimates. The effect of using different normalization regions on SUVr values was also evaluated.ResultsBoth FMT and PiB showed greater uptake throughout GM structures in AD vs. eCN or yCN. In all dual-modality group comparisons (FMT vs. PiB in yCN, eCN, and AD), greater WM uptake was seen with FMT vs. PiB. In yCN and eCN greater diffuse GM uptake was seen with FMT vs. PiB. When comparing yCN to eCN within each tracer, greater WM uptake was seen in eCN vs yCN.ConclusionsFlutemetamol and PiB show similar topographical GM uptake in AD and CN participants and the tracers show comparable group discrimination. Greater WM accumulation with FMT suggests that quantitative differences vs. PiB will be apparent when using WM or GM as a reference region. Both imaging tracers demonstrate increased WM uptake in older people. These findings suggest that using different amyloid tracers or different methods of analyses in serial brain imaging in an individual may result in artifactual amyloid change measurements. Clinical use of several amyloid tracers in the same patient will have challenges that need to be carefully considered.

Dataset Information

Nutrient intake and brain biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in at-risk cognitively normal individuals: a cross-sectional neuroimaging pilot study.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Nutrient intake and brain biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease in at-risk cognitively normal individuals: a cross-sectional neuroimaging pilot study.

Similar Datasets

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