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Category: Project

Description: The objective of this project is to harmonize and meta-analyze dietary intake and cognitive function/dementia data obtained from 8-10 prospective cohort studies conducted in the U.S. and Europe. The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) explored neurocognitive health through several systematic reviews and was faced with a literature having “considerable variation in testing methods, inconsistent validity and reliability of cognitive testing methods, and differences between dietary patterns and cognitive outcomes examined,” reducing the ability to draw conclusions (USDA/HHS 2020). The 2025 DGAC draft questions, released in 2022. Our study question is: “What is the relationship between dietary patterns consumed and risk of cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease?” The lack of harmonization is, in fact a long-standing challenge in the field, recognized over many decades. As the challenge faced by the 2020 DGAC is likely to still be in place for the 2025 DGAC’s review, one potential solution is to develop an approach to this literature.