Dietary choices and their consequences may certainly influence cognitive function. A new study led by investigators at Brigham and Women's Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, along with outside collaborators expands on previously published work (focused on Puerto Rican individuals in the U.S.) by including additional races and ethnicities.

The team found that certain plasma metabolites—substances created when the body breaks down food—were associated with global cognitive function scores across the diverse set of races and ethnicities. Their results are published in Alzheimer's & Dementia.

"Our study has huge strengths in expanding the sample size and in adding demographics compared to what previous research has done," said Tamar Sofer, Ph.D., and director of the Biostatistics Core Program in Sleep Medicine Epidemiology and a member of the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at the Brigham.

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