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Session: Nutrition-related Factors in Aging and Chronic Disease (Poster Theater Flash Session 7)

(PTFS07-03-23) Olive Oil Intake and Fatal Dementia Risk in Two Large Prospective U.S. Cohort Studies

Monday, July 24, 2023
8:09 AM – 8:13 AM ET
Location:  Fairfax
PRAC ELPC

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Anne-Julie Tessier, RD, PhD (she/her/hers)

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

    Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • CY

    Changzheng Yuan, ScD

    Postdoctoral Fellow
    Zhejiang University
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • MC

    Marianna Cortese, MD, PhD

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  • KB

    Kjetil Bjornevik, MD, PhD

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

  • AA

    Alberto Ascherio, MD, PhD

    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • Jorge E. Chavarro, MD, PhD

    Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • MS

    Meir J. Stampfer, MD, PhD

    Professor
    Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • Frank B. Hu, MD, MPH, PhD

    Chair, Department of Nutrition Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • WW

    Walter c. Willett, DrPH, MPH, MD

    Professor
    Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • MG

    Marta Guasch-Ferre, PhD

    University of Copenhagen
    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Disclosure(s):
Anne-Julie Tessier, RD, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Frank B. Hu, MD, MPH, PhD: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: Evidence supports a beneficial role for olive oil in cardiovascular health, mortality, and potentially cognition. Whether olive oil intake is related to dementia mortality risk has never been studied. We examined the association of total olive oil intake with subsequent risk of fatal dementia in US adults.

Methods: The population included 60,582 women (Nurses’ Health Study, NHS; 1990-2018) and 31,801 men (Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study, HPFS; 1990-2018) free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Fatal dementia was ascertained from death records. APOE ε4 genotype was measured in DNA from blood or buccal cells in a subsample (n=19,942). Diet was evaluated using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire every 4 y and diet quality using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI; score 0-110). Prospective risk associations were estimated using multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional-hazards models.

Results: At baseline in 1990, mean age was 56 ± 8 y, olive oil intake was 1.6 ± 0.8 g/d and AHEI was 53.9 ± 10.3. Over 28 y of follow-up, 4,749 dementia deaths occurred. Individuals who died of dementia were more likely to be APOE ε4 carriers (5.1% vs. 1.5% homozygous in non-cases; 36% vs. 23% heterozygous in non-cases; X2 p< 0.001). Consuming >0.5 tbsp/d ( >7 g/d) of olive oil was associated with 25% lower risk of fatal dementia (adjusted pooled hazard ratio [HR]: 0.75, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.67-0.85) compared with never or rarely consuming olive oil; results were consistent after further adjusting for APOE ε4. No interaction of olive intake with diet quality on fatal dementia risk was found. In substitution analyses, replacing 5 g/d of margarine and mayonnaise with the equivalent amount of olive oil was associated with 5-12% lower risk of fatal dementia. Substitutions of other vegetable oils or butter were not significant.

Conclusions: In US adults, higher olive oil intake was associated with a moderately lower risk of fatal dementia, irrespective of diet quality. Increasing olive oil intake in place of margarine and mayonnaise represents a potential strategy to reduce dementia mortality risk.

Funding Sources: National Institute of Aging R21 (MGF), Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellowship Award (AJT)