(P09-021-25) The Effects on Cognition From the Building Research in Diet and Cognition (Bridge) Trial - A 14 Month Mediterranean Diet and Weight Loss Intervention in Older Adults

Objectives: Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) affected approximately 6.9 million people over the age of 65 in 2024. Older African American adults with obesity have an increased risk. Adhering to a Mediterranean Diet and weight loss may reduce risk, yet these preventive measures have rarely been tested in older African American adults with obesity.

Methods: We tested the effect of an 8-month Mediterranean Diet lifestyle intervention, with (MedWL) or without weight loss (MedA) via calorie restriction and physical activity, compared to a usual diet control condition, followed by a 6-month maintenance period on executive function (EF), attention and information processing (AIP), and learning, memory, and recognition (LMR) in 185 adults (91% African American).

Results: Participants had a mean age of 66 years and mean BMI of 37.1 kg/m². There were no significant between group differences in change in cognition from 0 to 14 months or 8 to 14 months. However, Mediterranean Diet adherence (0-55 points) improved more in the MedWL (+3.2) and MedA (+3.4) groups compared to controls (+0.2) over 14 months (p < 0.05), and the MedWL group lost more weight (-3.8 kg) than the MedA group (-1.7 kg) and controls (-0.5 kg) over 14 months (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: An 8-month Mediterranean Diet lifestyle intervention, with or without weight loss, followed by a 6-month maintenance period did not change cognition relative to a control condition; however, the interventions improved Mediterranean Diet adherence and led to weight loss. Longer trials are needed to determine if sustaining these improvements would lead to better cognition compared to controls.

Funding Sources: These include an R01 from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and a T32 from the National Cancer Institute.