LAUSR

Data from observational studies and a small number of interventional studies have shown that certain dietary patterns are associated with brain health and preserved cognition. 1 The Mediterranean diet, the most commonly examined dietary pattern across cohorts of individuals from different backgrounds, has been found to be associated with mortality, cardiovascular health, and cognitive aging, 2-4 but possibly depending on race and ethnicity and sex. 5 Moustafa et al 6 specifically examined the association of adherence to the Mediterranean diet with cognitive function among a diverse cohort of Hispanic or Latino participants in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos and the Study of Latinos–Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging. In their cohort study, Moustafa et al 6 assessed the dietary patterns among 6321 participants (oversampled for those 45-74 years of age; 56 years at first assessment) from the mean of two 24-hour dietary recalls (conducted 30 days apart) to calculate a Mediterranean diet score (MDS). Cognition was assessed during the same period of diet assessment between 2008 and 2011 and between 2015 and 2018. The cognitive tests included the Brief Spanish-English Verbal Learning Test (B-SEVLT)Sum,B-SEVLTRecall,wordfluency,andDigitSymbolSubstitutionTest.Participantswith high adherence (MDS, 7-9 points) and moderate adherence (MDS, 5-6 points) were less likely to be born in the US, to use English as the preferred language, or to have health insurance. The high adherence group also had significantly better vascular risk profile compared with the low adherence group(MDS,0-4points).B-SEVLTSumandRecallandglobalcognition(createdusingmean z scores for each cognitive test) scores were better at both assessments for the high adherence vs the low adherence groups. Over the 7-year follow-up, high adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with a slower decline in B-SEVLT Sum and Recall, but not in other measures of cognition. Findings of this study were compelling and showed that the association between Mediterranean diet and cognitive brain aging 2,3 was also observed in the Hispanic