- A new study has found that food insufficiency is associated with more rapid cognitive decline.
- Researchers analyzed data for thousands of individuals regarding their level of food insecurity, cognitive health, and whether they benefitted from the United States federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
- Cognitive decline in people without enough food may be a result of poorer nutrition, or of the stress of experiencing financial hardship severe enough to keep them from buying the food they need.
The proportion of older people who lack food, often because of limited financial resources,
Programs such as the U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have reduced the number of younger people going hungry. However, research suggests that such efforts have been less successful for the elderly, and for older women living alone in particular.
Older people experiencing food insufficiency are more likely to have physical limitations and are at risk of malnutrition and depression.
A new analysis of SNAP data finds that there is also an association between older people with food insufficiency and more rapid cognitive decline.
People who were economically eligible for SNAP but who did not participate in the program experienced a faster cognitive decline rate, equivalent to what might be expected if they were 4.5 years older than their actual age.
For an older person, 4 years of brain aging can be significant. Compared with people who were food sufficient, those who were food insufficient exhibited a greater cognitive decline, equivalent to being 3.8 years older.
People who had sufficient food experienced the slowest rate of mental aging.
The study findings appear in The Journal of Nutrition.
The authors of the study analyzed data for 4,578 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 or older who participated in the
Read the full article here