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Published on: February 14, 2014
Nutritional Deficiency in Early Life Facilitates Aging-Associated Cognitive Decline
Yu Kang1, Yun Zhang2, Zijuan Feng1
1Chongqing City Key Lab of Translational Medical Research in Cognitive Development and Learning and Memory Disorders, and Ministry of Education Key Lab of Child Development and Disorders, Pediatric Research Institute, China International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Child Development and Critical Disorders, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400014, China.
Background:
Nutrition is important for the fetal developmental programming. Nutritional deficiency in early life could increase the susceptibility to many aging-related disorders including cognitive decline.
Objective:
Our study aims to investigate the effect of early famine exposure on aging-associated cognitive function.
Methods:
We recruited 6790 subjects born between 1956 to 1964 during which the Great Chinese Famine occurred (1959-1961). Cognitive function of these subjects were evaluated using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Activities of Daily Living scale (ADL), the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living scale (IADL) and the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR).
Results:
Our study identified that early exposure to the famine significantly increased the risk of cognitive impairments in later life, leading to higher prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia. We also found the sex and rural-urban differences in this malnutrition-induced effect. Illiteracy, history of stroke or diabetes mellitus are great risk factors to facilitate the cognitive decline.
Conclusion:
These findings demonstrate that exposure to famine during early life including prenatal period and early childhood facilitates aging-associated cognitive deficits.
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