Dietary fish and meat intake and dementia in Latin America, China, and India: a 10/66 Dementia Research Group population-based study - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2009 Aug;90(2):392-400.

doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009.27580. Epub 2009 Jun 24.

Alan D Dangour, Ricardo Uauy, Daisy Acosta, Mariella Guerra, Sara S Gallardo Guerra, Yueqin Huang, K S Jacob, Juan Llibre de Rodriguez, Lisseth Hernandex Noriega, Aquiles Salas, Ana Luisa Sosa, Renata M Sousa, Joseph Williams, Cleusa P Ferri, Martin J Prince

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Dietary fish and meat intake and dementia in Latin America, China, and India: a 10/66 Dementia Research Group population-based study

Emiliano Albanese et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Evidence of an association between fish and meat consumption and risk of dementia is inconsistent and nonexistent in populations in developing countries.

Objective: The objective was to investigate associations between fish and meat consumption with dementia in low- and middle-income countries.

Design: One-phase cross-sectional surveys were conducted in all residents aged > or =65 y in 11 catchment areas in China, India, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Mexico, and Peru. A total of 14,960 residents were assessed by using the 10/66 standardized protocol, which includes face-to-face interviews for dietary habits and a cross-culturally validated dementia diagnosis.

Results: Dietary intakes and the prevalence of dementia varied between sites. We combined site-specific Poisson regression prevalence ratios (PRs) for the association between fish and meat consumption and dementia in 2 fixed-effect model meta-analyses adjusted for sociodemographic and health characteristics and fish and meat consumption as appropriate. We found a dose-dependent inverse association between fish consumption and dementia (PR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.72, 0.91) that was consistent across all sites except India and a less-consistent, dose-dependent, direct association between meat consumption and prevalence of dementia (PR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.31).

Conclusions: Our results extend findings on the associations of fish and meat consumption with dementia risk to populations in low- and middle-income countries and are consistent with mechanistic data on the neuroprotective actions of omega-3 (n-3) long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids commonly found in fish. The inverse association between fish and prevalent dementia is unlikely to result from poorer dietary habits among demented individuals (reverse causality) because meat consumption was higher in those with a diagnosis of dementia.

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Figures

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1

Meta-analysis (fixed-effect model) of country prevalence ratios (PRs) (and 95% CIs) for the association between fish consumption and 10/66 dementia. PRs are from robust Poisson regression models adjusted for household clustering as for model 3 in Table 4, ie, adjusted for age, sex, educational level, and family history of dementia and controlled for number of_International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition_, depressive symptoms; self-reported stroke; self-reported diabetes; self-reported coronary heart disease (including angina and myocardial infarction); smoking habit; living arrangements (live alone or only with spouse); number of assets; meat intake; and number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2

Meta-analysis (fixed-effect model) of country prevalence ratios (PRs) (and 95% CIs) for the association between meat consumption and 10/66 dementia. PRs are from robust Poisson regression models adjusted for household clustering as for model 3 in Table 5, ie, adjusted for age, sex, educational level, and family history of dementia and controlled for the number of_International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition_, depressive symptoms; self-reported stroke; self-reported diabetes; self-reported coronary heart disease (including angina and myocardial infarction); smoke habit; living arrangements (live alone or only with spouse); number of assets; fish intake; and number of daily portions of fruit and vegetables.

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