SynthesisJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2020
Link Between Dietary Sodium Intake, Cognitive Function, and Dementia Risk in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 73 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of diet and medication use among centenarians and near-centenarians worldwide.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- High intake of ultra-processed food is associated with dementia in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies.Journal of neurology · 2024Pooled it
- Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, Sodium and Potassium Intake in People at a High Risk of Dementia.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Tibetan Butter Tea Consumption and Cognitive Performance Among Tibetan Adolescents at High Altitude.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Joint Expert Consensus on the Sodium Reduction Policy in Taiwan: A Collaborative Declaration by the Taiwan Hypertension Society (THS), Taiwan Society of Cardiology (TSOC), International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI), and Nutrition Society of Taiwan (NST).Acta Cardiologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Impact of High Dietary Salt on Neurovascular and Cognitive Functions.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2026Review
- The association between ultra-processed food exposure and cognition in older adults.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Predictors of cognitive resilience in the old-old: An observational study using real-world electronic health record data.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Observational
- Unraveling the Diet-Learning Nexus: a cross-sectional deep dive into Iranian adolescents' nutrient patterns and learning difficulties.BMC nutrition · 2026Article
- SGK1 inhibition restores excitability of cortical neurons derived from Alzheimer's disease patients.Neurobiology of disease · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Dietary Sodium Intake and Cognitive Function: A Narrative Review.Current nutrition reports · 2026Review
- Nutrition and longevity - diet in centenarians.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Elevated NaInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Neutrophil stalling does not mediate the increase in tau phosphorylation and the cognitive impairment associated with high salt diet.Cardiovascular research · 2025Article
- Elevated NabioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Association of dietary sodium intake with late-life cognitive decline and postmortem neuropathology in community-dwelling older adults.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Article
- Article
- Association Between Healthy Lifestyle and Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Dietary salt, vascular dysfunction, and cognitive impairment.Cardiovascular research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundA key focus for dementia risk-reduction is the prevention of socio-demographic, lifestyle, and nutritional risk factors. High sodium intake is associated with hypertension and cardiovascular disease (both are linked to dementia), generating numerous recommendations for salt reduction to improve cardiovascular health.
objectiveThis systematic review aimed to assess, in middle- and older-aged people, the relationship between dietary sodium intake and cognitive outcomes including cognitive function, risk of cognitive decline, or dementia.
methodsSix databases (PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Psych info, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library) were searched from inception to 1 March 2020. Data extraction included information on study design, population characteristics, sodium reduction strategy (trials) or assessment of dietary sodium intake (observational studies), measurement of cognitive function or dementia, and summary of main results. Risk-of-bias assessments were performed using the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) assessment tool.
resultsFifteen studies met the inclusion criteria including one clinical trial, six cohorts, and eight cross-sectional studies. Studies reported mixed associations between sodium levels and cognition. Results from the only clinical trial showed that a lower sodium intake was associated with improved cognition over six months. In analysis restricted to only high-quality studies, three out of four studies found that higher sodium intake was associated with impaired cognitive function.
conclusionThere is some evidence that high salt intake is associated with poor cognition. However, findings are mixed, likely due to poor methodological quality, and heterogeneous dietary, analytical, and cognitive assessment methods and design of the studies. Reduced sodium intake may be a potential target for intervention. High quality prospective studies and clinical trials are needed.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.