Association Between the Jiangnan Diet and Mild Cognitive Impairment Among the Elderly.

Background/Objectives: The Jiangnan diet-a traditional dietary pattern prevalent in Eastern China-is a newly proposed dietary pattern. This study provides additional epidemiological evidence for the promotion of the Jiangnan diet through examining the association between the Jiangnan diet and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study was carried out during 2020 among 1084 community-dwelling adults aged 55 years and above across multiple sites in Zhejiang Province, China. Data collection encompassed basic information of the population, cognition (using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment), dietary intake information (using the Food Frequency Questionnaire, FFQ), life pattern, depressive symptoms (using the Mental Health Assessment Scale for the Elderly), and physical examinations (e.g., height, weight). The dietary patterns were assessed using a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. Factor analysis was used to analyze the 16 categories of food intake of the participants, and dietary patterns and the "Jiangnan diet" were extracted. The Jiangnan diet scores were categorized into quartiles: Q1 (lowest) to Q4 (highest). Multivariate logistic regression was employed to examine the association between adherence to the Jiangnan diet and the prevalence of MCI, with results expressed as odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: The estimated prevalence of MCI in the study population was 24.6%. The dietary pattern characterized by whole grains, low salt, and low oil was identified as the "Jiangnan diet". Participants with the highest adherence to the "Jiangnan diet" pattern had 79.2% lower odds of MCI than those with the lowest adherence (odds ratio = 0.208, 95% CI = 0.120~0.362, p < 0.0001) after adjusting for age, frequency of social activities, depression, hypertension, alcohol consumption, and energy intake. Conclusions: High adherence to the Jiangnan diet was associated with lower odds of MCI. To further verify the relationship between the Jiangnan diet and MCI, future studies will focus on longitudinal research exploring different dietary patterns and disease outcomes across various regions.