Refined sugar intake is associated with lower cognitive performance across the cognitive continuum but is not associated with preclinical cognitive decline in intact elderly subjects (P7.111)

Objective: To assess the association of refined sugar intake with cognitive decline in the normal elderly, mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Background: Increased refined sugar intake is associated with learning disability and lower performance in school-aged children and with conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, linked to late life cognitive decline. It is unclear if refined sugar intake is associated with early cognitive decline preceding the development of MCI or dementia. Design/Methods: Participants in the Sanders-Brown Healthy Aging cohort, spanning the cognitive continuum, completed an abridged Nurse Health Study II Food Frequency Questionnaire (n=351). Refined sugar intake scores were derived from USRDA estimates, and were compared between normal and cognitively impaired groups using standard descriptive statistics. Results: Higher refined sugar intake was associated with poorer cognitive performance in the total group on MMSE, CDR, paragraph learning and recall, animal and letter naming, Boston Naming test, Trailmaking A, and Digit-symbol substitution (p<0.05 for all tests). Refined sugar intake in non-demented subjects only was associated with lower CDR scores (p<0.05) and paragraph recall (p<0.02). The association of lower delayed recall with higher refined sugar intake did not reach statistical significance when the analysis was confined to only cognitively intact subjects in this study. Conclusions: Despite the associations of refined sugar intake with lower cognitive performance in children and risk factors for late life cognitive decline such as diabetes and heart disease, we found no association between cognitive performance and refined sugar intake in the cognitively intact population studied. These data suggest that potential increases in refined sugar intake do not predispose to cognitive decline in the intact elderly population. Disclosure: Dr. Kenlan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Tarrant has nothing to disclose. Dr. Pursell has nothing to disclose. Dr. Welleford has nothing to disclose. Dr. Albrektson has nothing to disclose. Dr. Jicha has received personal compensation for activities with Quintiles.