No abstract

Cognitive decline may lead to dementia whose most frequent cause is Alzheimer's disease (AD). Among the many potential risk factors of cognitive decline and AD, diet raises increasing interest. Most studies considered diet in the frame of a single nutrient approach with inconsistent results. A novel approach to examine the link between nutrition and cognitive function is the use of dietary patterns. The aim of the present review was to update and complete the body of knowledge about dietary patterns in relationship with various cognitive outcomes in the elderly. Two approaches can be used: a priori and a posteriori patterns. A priori patterns are defined by the adhesion to a predefined healthy diet using a score such as the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) score, the Healthy Eating Index, the Canadian Healthy Eating Index, the French National Nutrition and Health Programme (Programme National Nutrition Santé) Guideline Score (PNNS-GS), the Recommended Food Score (RFS) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). MeDi score, RFS, PNNS-GS and DASH have been associated with lower risks of cognitive impairment, cognitive decline, and dementia or AD. Principal components analysis, reduced rank regression and clustering methods allow the identification of 'healthy' patterns associated with lower risk of cognitive decline. However, some studies did not report any associations with cognitive outcomes and results are discordant especially regarding MeDi and the risk of dementia. Several methodological challenges should be overcome to provide a higher level of evidence supporting the development of nutritional policies to prevent cognitive decline and AD.

Few data are available regarding dietary habits of the elderly, in particular about fatty acid consumption, whereas these are major risk or protective factors of several age-related diseases. The aim of the present study was to characterise the dietary intake of a French elderly population in terms of energy, macronutrients and fatty acids based on their socio-demographic characteristics. The study population (age range 67·7 -94·9 years) consisted of 1786 subjects from Bordeaux (France), included in the Three-City cohort. Dietary assessment was performed by a 24 h recall, allowing the estimation of energy, protein, carbohydrate, total fat, SFA, MUFA and PUFA intakes. Socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, marital status, educational level and income), practice of sports and BMI were registered. Total energy intake (EI) was lower in women and in older participants ($ 85 years) but higher in single subjects. Higher EI was associated with higher income, but not with educational level. Mean contribution of macronutrients to EI (protein 18 %, carbohydrate 46 % and total fat 31 %) was higher in women than men, except for alcohol. The oldest individuals consumed less protein and more mono-and disaccharides. Excess saturated fat intake (43 % of total fat), associated with a relative deficit in MUFA consumption (36 % of total fat), was observed. The mean 18 : 2n-6 : 18 : 3n-3 ratio was 9.9 and decreased with higher educational level. The present results suggest that being female, older age, being widowed and low income level could be considered as risk factors of inadequate dietary intake.

No abstract

Background: Dietary and nutrient patterns have been linked to health outcomes related to aging. Food intake is influenced by environmental and genetic factors. The aim of the present study was to compare nutrient patterns across two elderly populations sharing a common ancestral cultural background, but living in different environments. Methods: The diet quality, lifestyle and socioeconomic characteristics of participants from the Three-City Study (3C, France, n = 1712) and the Québec Longitudinal Study on Nutrition and Successful Aging (NuAge, Quebec, Canada, n = 1596) were analyzed. Nutrient patterns and their food sources were identified in the two samples using principal component analysis. Diet quality was compared across sample-specific patterns by describing weekly food intake and associations with the Canadian Healthy Eating Index (C-HEI). Results: Three nutrient patterns were retained in each study: a healthy, a Western and a more traditional pattern. These patterns accounted for 50.1% and 53.5% of the total variance in 3C and NuAge, respectively. Higher education and non-physical occupations over lifetime were associated with healthy patterns in both studies. Other characteristics such as living alone, having a body mass index lower than 25 and being an ex-smoker were associated with the healthy pattern in NuAge. No association between these characteristics and the nutrient patterns was noted in 3C. The healthy and Western patterns from each sample also showed an inverse association with C-HEI. Conclusion: The two healthy patterns showed important similarities: adequate food variety, consumption of healthy foods and associations with common sociodemographic factors. This work highlights that nutrient patterns derived using a posteriori methods may be useful to compare the nutritional quality of the diet of distinct populations.

The syndrome taxonomies are consistent with the diagnostic criteria. The clinical use of syndrome co-occurrence could help to further understand and evaluate behavioral changes in pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments.

This 12-year prospective population-based study suggests that some particular unhealthy dietary patterns may increase the risk of frailty in older adults.

Accurate methods are required for estimating the incidence of AIHA in children. Capture-recapture analysis corrects underreporting and provides optimal completeness. This study highlights a possible under diagnosis of this potentially severe disease in various pediatric settings. AIHA incidence may now be compared with the incidences of other hematological diseases and used for clinical or research purposes.