Dietary Trends and Dementia - A Multi-Country Ecological Analysis

Background This research evaluates the association between increased animal product consumption and population-level dementia incidence. Design/methodology/approach Publicly available data from 54 countries across a 10-year span was used to conduct a multivariate panel data regression to determine significant relationships between dietary changes and rates of dementia. Fixed effects analysis controls for the effect of omitted time-invariant differences between countries. Findings Excess calorie consumption is associated with a significant increase in dementia whereas fish consumption appears protective. On a population-level basis, increases in milk and egg consumption were associated with an increase in dementia rates. Meat, as a broadly defined category, was found to have no significant effect. Practical Implications This study supports the well-documented benefits of calorie control and fish consumption to protect against dementia, but indicates that egg and milk consumption is associated with increased population-level dementia incidence. Originality/value This research expands current literature by using an updated data set, evaluating considerably more countries, and utilizing a regression model that controls for the effects of time-invariant sources of heterogeneity in the data.