Fish consumption and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from diet are positively associated with cognitive function in older adults even in the presence of exposure to lead, cadmium, selenium, and methylmercury: a cross-sectional study using NHANES 2011 - 2014 data
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (ω-3 PUFAs) are reported to be beneficial for cognition, but limited consumption of some fish is recommended due to high concentrations of heavy metals and persistent organics.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated aimed to determine whether dietary ω-3 PUFAs from fish consumption is associated with higher cognitive scores in older adults and explored the associations of mixtures of ω-3 PUFAs and blood concentrations of lead, cadmium, selenium, and methylmercury on cognitive performance.
METHODS
We conducted a cross-sectional study with data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011 to 2014, assessing cognitive scores of immediate recall, delayed recall, and executive function in adults 60 years and older (n = 3,123). We performed multivariate linear regressions and mixture models utilizing the quantile-based g-computation method to identify associations between monthly fish consumption or dietary ω-3 PUFAs with blood concentrations of lead, cadmium, methyl mercury, and selenium on cognitive scores.
RESULTS
Fish consumption had significant positive associations with all three cognitive scores, while dietary ω-3 PUFAs were only significantly associated with the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST scores). Mixture analysis showed significant positive associations with DSST scores for fish consumption (β = 0.88, 95% CI = 0.48, 1.29), and dietary ω-3 PUFAs (β = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.03, 0.78) with positive…
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