Prospective associations between dietary patterns and cognitive performance during adolescence
Open accessAbstract
Background: The aim of the study was to investigate prospective associations between dietary patterns and cognitive performance during adolescence. Methods: Participants were sourced from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study that includes 2868 children born between 1989 and 1992 in Perth, Western Australia. When the children were 17 years old (2006–2009), cognitive performance was assessed using a computerized cognitive battery of tests (CogState) that included six tasks. Using a food frequency questionnaire administered when the children were 14 years old (2003–2006), ‘Healthy’ and ‘Western’ dietary patterns were identified by factor analysis. Associations between dietary patterns at 14 years of age and cognitive performance at 17 years of age were assessed prospectively using multivariate regression models. Results: Dietary and cognitive performance data were available for 602 participants. Following adjustment for the ‘Healthy’ dietary pattern, total energy intake, maternal education, family income, father's presence in the family, family functioning and gender, we found that a longer reaction time in the detection task (β = .016; 95% CI : 0.004; 0.028; p = .009) and a higher number of total errors in the Groton Maze Learning Test – delayed recall task (β = .060; 95% CI : 0.006; 0.114; p = .029) were significantly associated with higher scores on the ‘Western’ dietary pattern. The ‘Western’ dietary pattern was characterized by high intakes of take‐away food, red and processed meat, soft drink, fried and refined food. We also found that within the dietary patterns, high intake of fried potato, crisps and red meat had negative associations, while increased fruit and leafy green vegetable intake had positive associations with some aspects of cognitive performance. Conclusion: Higher dietary intake of the ‘Western’ dietary pattern at age 14 is associated with diminished cognitive performance 3 years later, at 17 years.
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Many food-derived molecules can reach the unborn baby and therefore could directly or indirectly influence brain development when crossing the immature blood-brain barrier and potentially affect PFC development.
“Many food-derived molecules can reach the unborn baby in one form or another, and therefore could directly or indirectly influence brain development when crossing the immature blood-brain barrier and potentially affect PFC development [308].”
From Development of prefrontal cortex (2022) · cites this paper as [308]
The Introduction (page unavailable) says nutrition influences brain development and describes prefrontal-cortex development during adolescence. The Discussion (page unavailable) mentions diet-related damage to the blood-brain barrier, also in the context of adolescent cognition. Neither passage supports the claim that food-derived molecules reach an unborn baby or cross an immature fetal blood-brain barrier to affect PFC development. (LLM, conf=0.79)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredParticular consumption of high-fat and/or high-sugar during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence can result in structural changes in the PFC and deficits in executive functioning.
“Particular consumption of high-fat and/or high-sugar during pregnancy, childhood and adolescence can result in structural changes in the PFC and deficits in executive functioning [308–311].”
From Development of prefrontal cortex (2022) · cites this paper as [308]
The Abstract reports that a Western dietary pattern at age 14, correlated with higher fat and refined-sugar intake, was associated with poorer performance at age 17 on a task measuring memory and executive function. The Introduction describes normal prefrontal-cortex development, but the paper does not show that diet causes structural changes there or establish this effect for consumption during pregnancy or childhood. Section labels are available; page numbers are not supplied. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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Development of prefrontal cortex
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“Many food-derived molecules can reach the unborn baby in one form or another, and therefore could directly or indirectly influence brain development when crossing the immature blood-brain barrier and potentially affect PFC development [308].”
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- Authors
- Nyaradi, A., Foster, J. K., Hickling, S., Li, J., Ambrosini, G. L., Jacques, A., & Oddy, W. H.
- Affiliations
- The Kids Research Institute Australia (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Nyaradi, Anett
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-02-13
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1017-1024
- ISSN
- 0021-9630 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7610
- OpenAlex
- W1991787008
- Cited by
- 132
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 9.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eSpace (Curtin University) (submittedVersion)
- eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion)
- UWA Profiles and Research Repository (UWA) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- University of Western Australia
- Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
- Raine Medical Research Foundation
- UWA Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
- Women's and Infant's Research Foundation
- Curtin University
- NHMRC program
- Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the Commonwealth Scientific
- Industrial Research Organisation
- Australian Postgraduate Award
- Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Scholarship
- Curtin University Senior Research Fellowship
- Health Department of Western Australia
- National Health and Medical Research Council Population Health Research Fellowship
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Fatty Acid Research and Health
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- dietary habits, Western diet, healthy eating, cognitive performance, adolescent cognition, reaction time, memory, fruit consumption, leafy vegetables, red meat, fried foods, soft drinks, takeaway food, Raine Study, prenatal and perinatal factors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Cognition, Diet, Female, Humans, Male, Prospective Studies, Psychomotor Performance, Western Australia
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