Association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in Chinese children aged 10–15 years: evidence from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies

Abstract

Background Limited information is available concerning the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability during adolescence, especially in regards to the epidemiological studies in China. Therefore, this study aimed to analyze the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in Chinese children aged 10–15 years. Methods The dietary information, cognitive ability and sociodemographic data of 2029 children were retrieved from the 2010 China Family Panel Studies. Dietary patterns were assessed by principal component analysis. Ordinal logistic regression models were used to determine the association between dietary patterns and cognitive ability in these children. Results Three dietary patterns were identified, namely, ‘High protein’, ‘High fat’ and ‘High salt-oil’. Following adjustment for gender, age, nationality, household registration, school type, parental education level, family learning environment, annual household income and family size, we found that an increase in ‘High protein’ pattern score was significantly associated with higher mathematics test scores (OR = 1.62, CI: 1.23 ~ 2.15; P = 0.001), but not with vocabulary test scores (OR = 1.21, CI: 0.93 ~ 1.58; P = 0.149). On the contrary, an increase in ‘High fat’ pattern score was significantly associated with lower scores of mathematics (OR = 0.76, CI: 0.59 ~ 0.98; P = 0.031) and vocabulary (OR = 0.77, CI: 0.61 ~ 0.97; P = 0.029) tests. However, there was no significant association between ‘High salt-oil’ pattern and the scores of mathematics (OR = 0.99, CI: 0.77 ~ 1.27; P = 0.915) and vocabulary (OR = 0.93, CI: 0.73 ~ 1.18; P = 0.544) tests. Conclusion The findings of this study demonstrated that ‘High protein’ pattern was positively associated with cognitive ability in Chinese children, while ‘High fat’ pattern exhibited a negative association.

Are Dietary Patterns Related to Cognitive Performance in 7-Year-Old Children? Evidence from a Birth Cohort in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy

“…A finding similar to our “Seafood” DP was reported in the ALSPAC cohort, where the “Health conscious” DP—including fruit and vegetables, pasta, rice, and fish—was positively and significantly related to the verbal IQ and the overall IQ score, as measured with WISC-III [ 21 ]. In line with our “Meat and Potatoes” DP, higher scores on the “High fat” DP—based on meat, processed meat, and seafood—were related to lower mean vocabulary test scores in Chinese adolescents [ 25 ]. Similarly, in Greek 4-year-old children, the “Snacky” DP—based on potatoes, salty snacks, and sugar products—was inversely associated with verbal ability measured with the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities [ 18 ].…”

“…When considering the relation between a posteriori DPs from PCA or FA and cognitive performance, additional challenges include the potentially different tools used for the assessment of diet and cognitive performance; in particular, the use of different psychometric tests across papers makes result comparisons difficult because each test evaluates cognitive performance through indexes that only partially overlap in terms of the explained underlying cognitive functions. In addition, within the few papers identified in the literature on this topic [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 25 ], target populations were substantially different and included adolescents from Malaysia [ 19 ] and China [ 25 ], 4-year-old children from Greece [ 18 ], and 7- and 8.5-year-old children from the UK-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort [ 20 , 21 ]. A detailed comparison of results across papers is therefore unfeasible.…”

“…Among other possible limitations, NAC-II cohort participants were recruited in one Italian region only, Friuli Venezia Giulia, and with a different aim than assessing the relationship between overall dietary exposure and cognitive performance. However, this different aim likely allowed to track the “Seafood” DP, which was not identified in any of the other papers on a posteriori DPs and cognitive performance [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 25 ]. Although we performed several complementary analyses that reassured on the (internal) reproducibility of the identified DPs [ 56 ], we cannot guarantee that the identified DPs are reproducible across different populations [ 77 ].…”

“…A few previous papers have related a priori [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ] and a posteriori [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ] DPs to cognitive/academic performance in cross-sectional and/or longitudinal analyses. Cross-sectional analyses of a priori DPs, including the Mediterranean Diet score [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ], the Healthy Eating Index [ 15 ], the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet score [ 16 ], the Finnish Children Healthy Eating Index [ 16 , 17 ], and the Baltic Sea Diet Score [ 16 , 17 ], suggested that higher diet quality indices are generally associated with better cognitive and academic performance in children and adolescents from Europe and the United States.…”

“…Cross-sectional analyses of a priori DPs, including the Mediterranean Diet score [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 17 ], the Healthy Eating Index [ 15 ], the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet score [ 16 ], the Finnish Children Healthy Eating Index [ 16 , 17 ], and the Baltic Sea Diet Score [ 16 , 17 ], suggested that higher diet quality indices are generally associated with better cognitive and academic performance in children and adolescents from Europe and the United States. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses generally revealed that unhealthy a posteriori DPs, characterized by energy-dense and processed foods as well as refined grains, are related to lower cognitive/academic performance [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ].…”