ArticleAge and ageing2023
Plant-based dietary patterns and the risk of dementia: a population-based study.
Article in Age and ageing, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 3 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
16 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Associations between plant-based dietary patterns and risks of cognitive impairment and dementia: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Pooled it
- Association between plant-based diets and incident dementia: results from prospective cohort studies and a meta-analysis.The journal of prevention of Alzheimer's disease · 2026Pooled it
- Plant-Based Diets and Cognitive Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2025Pooled it
- Dietary preference, biological aging, and incident dementia: a prospective cohort study.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and Risk of Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias in the Multiethnic Cohort Study.Neurology · 2026Article
- Enhancing a plant-based diet can reduce the risk of multimorbidity in older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Article
- Fiber-based vegetarian score and the risk of incident dementia among elderly Chinese adults: a prospective cohort study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Prevention of cognitive decline and dementia: Current evidence on lifestyle factors and dietary patterns.EXCLI journal · 2026Review
- Influence of APOE4 Genotypes on Nutrient-Cognition Relationship in Taiwanese Older Adults: Longitudinal Findings from the HALST.Nutrients · 2025Observational
- Impact of Diverse Dietary Patterns on Cognitive Health: Cumulative Evidence from Prospective Cohort Studies.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Nutrition: A non-negligible factor in the pathogenesis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Review
- Review
- Association between plant-based dietary patterns and dementia among Chinese older adults.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- Diets to promote healthy brain ageing.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Unveiling the therapeutic potential of natural products in Alzheimer's disease: insights fromFrontiers in pharmacology · 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
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPlant-based dietary patterns are increasingly popular in western countries and are supported by many governments and health organisations for their potential beneficial role in the prevention of chronic diseases. Yet, the potential role of plant-based dietary patterns in the development of dementia remains unclear.
objectiveTo evaluate the association between plant-based dietary patterns and the risk of dementia.
methodsDietary intake was measured at baseline in 9,543 dementia-free participants (mean age 64 years, birth years 1897-1960, 58% women) of the prospective population-based Rotterdam Study, using food frequency questionnaires. Based on these questionnaires, we calculated an overall plant-based dietary index (PDI), healthy PDI (hPDI) and unhealthy PDI (uPDI), with higher scores reflecting higher consumption of (any, healthy and unhealthy, respectively) plant-based foods and lower consumption of animal-based foods. We analysed the association of the PDIs with incident dementia using Cox proportional hazard models.
resultsDuring a mean follow-up of 14.5 years, 1,472 participants developed dementia. Overall, the PDIs were not associated with the risk of dementia (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval] per 10-point increase: 0.99 [0.91-1.08] for PDI, 0.93 [0.86-1.01] for hPDI, 1.02 [0.94-1.10] for uPDI). However, among men and APOE ε4 carriers, a higher hPDI was linearly associated with a lower risk of dementia (0.86 [0.75-0.99] and 0.83 [0.73-0.95], respectively), while this association was U-shaped among APOE ε4 non-carriers (P value for non-linearity = 0.01).
conclusionsWe found no strong evidence for an overall association between plant-based eating and the risk of dementia. Our findings in stratified analyses warranted further investigation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.