Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet Is not Related to Beta-Amyloid Deposition: Data from the Women's Healthy Ageing Project

BACKGROUND: Research has indicated the neuroprotective potential of the Mediterranean diet. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet has shown preventative potential for Alzheimer's disease incidence and prevalence, yet few studies have investigated the impact of Mediterranean diet adherence on the hallmark protein; beta-amyloid. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and beta-amyloid deposition in a cohort of healthy older Australian women. DESIGN: This study was a cross-sectional investigation of participants from the longitudinal, epidemiologically sourced Women's Healthy Ageing Project which is a follow-up of the Melbourne Women's Midlife Health Project. SETTING: Assessments were conducted at the Centre for Medical Research, Royal Melbourne Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. F-18 Florbetaben positron emission tomography scanning was conducted at the Austin Centre for PET in Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and eleven Women's Healthy Ageing Project participants were included in the study. MEASUREMENTS: Mediterranean diet adherence scores for all participants were calculated from the administration of a validated food frequency questionnaire constructed by the Cancer Council of Victoria. Beta-amyloid deposition was measured using positron emission tomography standardised uptake value ratios. RESULTS: Gamma regression analysis displayed no association between Mediterranean diet adherence and beta-amyloid deposition. This result was consistent across APOE-epsilon 4 +/-cohorts and with the inclusion of covariates such as age, education, body mass index and cognition. CONCLUSIONS: This study found no association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and beta-amyloid deposition in a cohort of healthy Australian women.